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THE School Efficiency Series comprises about | 

twelve volumes by as many educational experts | 

I on Elementary School and Kindergarten, High School | 

I and Vocational Instruction, Courses of Study, Organ- | 

I ization, Management and Supervision. The series con- | 

I sists of monographs based on the report of Professor i 

I Hanus and his associates on the schools of New York | 

I City, but the controlling ideas are applicable as well in | 

I one public school system as in another. | 

I Among the authors contributing to these volumes | 

I are Professor Paul H. Hanus, Professor of Education, | 

I Harvard University, who is also general editor of the | 

I series; Dr. Frank P. Bachman, formerly Assistant | 

I Superintendent of Schools, Cleveland; Dr. Edward C. | 

I Elliott,^Director of the School of Education, University I 

I of Wisconsin; Dr. Herman Schneider, Dean of the | 

I College of Engineering, University of Cincinnati; Mr. j 

I Frank W. Ballou, Joseph Lee Fellow for Research in j 

j Education, Harvard University (formerly Assistant I 

I Professor of Education, University of Cincinnati); | 

I Dr. Calvin O. Davis, Assistant Professor of Education, | 

I University of Michigan; Dr. Frank V. Thompson, j 

I Assistant Superintendent of Schools, Boston; Dr. | 

I Henry H. Goddard, Director Department of Psycho- | 

I logical Research, New Jersey Training School for I 

I Feeble-Minded Boys and Girls; Mr. Stuart A. Courtis, I 

I Head of Department of Science and Mathematics, I 

I Detroit Home and Day School (Liggett School), | 

I Detroit; Dr. Frank M. McMurry, Professor of Elemen- f 

I taryEducation,Teachers College, Columbia University; | 

I Dr. Ernest C. Moore, Professor of Education, Harvard I 

I University (formerly of Yale University). | 

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SCHOOL EFFICIENCY SERIES 



School Training of Defective Children 



SCHOOL EFFICIENCY SERIES 

Edited by Paul H. Hanus 



School Training of Defective 
C-hildren 

By HENRY H. GODDARD 

Director or the Department of Research of the Training School for 
Feeble-minded Children, Vdjeland, New Jersey 




YONKERS-ON-HUDSON, NEW YORK 

WORLD BOOK COMPANY 
1914 



LC4633 



MiQ- 



Copyright, 1914, by World Book Compaity 
All rights reserved 

SES : GSTDC — I 



OCT -5 1314 



©CJ,A380709 



EDITOR'S PREFACE 

WHETHER the problems to be solved in the recogni- 
tion and appropriate treatment of mentally defective 
children are medical, educational, or custodial, or all three 
combined, is a question worthy of serious consideration. It 
has hitherto been quite generally assumed that mentally de- 
fective children should be and could be cared for satisfac- 
torily by the public school system. In many school systems 
they are now provided for in special classes; in many 
others such children are still found in the regular classes 
for normal children. Hence, for the present at least, the 
problems involved in the care and training of mental de- 
fectives are practically pubHc school problems and must be 
dealt with from the public school point of view. 

Unfortunately there is a notion widely prevalent within 
and without the teaching profession that special attention — 
sometimes a little of it, sometimes a good deal — ^bestowed 
by the regular teachers, will solve the problem and will 
make these mentally defective children normal. How com- 
pletely erroneous this notion is Dr. Goddard makes plain 
in the present volume. 

Even when mentally defective children are segregated 
in separate classes — as in the interest of the normal chil- 
dren as well as in their own interest they should be — the 
notion just referred to is often responsible for the regime to 
which they are subjected ; namely, the regime, usually with 
some modifications, to be sure, appropriate to normal pupils. 
And, what is even more serious, as little care is bestowed 
on what happens to the defective child after he is old 
enough to be released from school by the compulsory at- 
tendance law as on what happens to the normal child, and 



viii Editor's Preface 

this is bad enough. How serious a problem from every 
point of view — hygienic, social, educational — is the appro- 
priate care of mentally defective persons, from childhood 
on, is strongly stated in this volume. 

The book consists of Dr. Goddard's report — with some 
additions — on the "ungraded classes" of the New York 
City public school system, which, as specialist in charge of 
the educational aspects of the New York City school in- 
quiry, I asked Dr. Goddard to undertake. Like the other 
volumes of the School Efficiency Series, it is therefore in 
large part a portion of the report submitted by me to the 
Committee on School Inquiry of the Board of Estimate 
and Apportionment of the City of New York, in July, 
1912. 

In its present form we hope the book will be found 
useful by all who are seeking help toward the solution of 
the important problems with which it deals, outside of New 
York City as well as within it. 

Paul H. Hanus. 

Harvard University. 



AUTHOR'S PREFACE 

IN preparing- this report on mentally defective children in 
the New York City schools for a larger audience than 
that interested simply in the local situation, it has been 
thought wise to amplify it somewhat, adding some discus- 
sion of a more general nature and explaining what might 
not be understood by persons not familiar with New York 
schools or with the problems of the special classes. 

In the main, the problem is the same everywhere. It 
is only in details that differences appear. The reader will 
easily make the necessary changes to fit his conditions. 

The value of the report to those outside New York lies 
in the fact that, because of its great size. New York has 
had much experience in a short time. Methods have been 
in vogue and experiments tried, the results of which are 
seen. The mistakes may be avoided by other cities. 

Although it is two years since the investigation was 
made, and the writer has made much study of the prob- 
lem in the meantime, he sees no reason to change any- 
thing of importance in the report or recommendations, 
and on most points contributions by others to the problem 
have strengthened the convictions expressed in the report: 
such, for example, as the number of defectives in New 
York schools. While no importance is attached to the 
estimate of 15,000 defectives — if it were only half that 
the conclusions in the report would be the same — the indi- 
cations are strong, and from many sources, that 2 per 
cent, of the school population is an underestimate of the 
number of mental defectives in any community. 

Some criticisms of the report have appeared. Some of 
these, written for political reasons, are of no value to 
the student. Others, written by enthusiasts who fear that 



x Author's Preface 

their hobby has been attacked, only show the necessity of 
elaborating points that one is apt to pass over briefly, sup- 
posing they would be understood. An example of this is 
the criticism of the suggestion in regard to "working 
papers." The Child Labor enthusiast has fallen into the 
error of using the words "mental defective" (or their 
equivalent) while forgetting that the child he is talking 
about is really feeble-minded. When this is kept in mind 
his argument falls. 

The Binet tests, upon which some part of our argument 
in the report is based, are still being condemned occa- 
sionally. They have been killed several times, but, in the 
spirit of Galileo, "The world moves just the same." The 
Binet tests are proving their value and accuracy every day. 
Thousand of people are using them, not only with satis- 
faction, but with results that stand the test of time and 
experience. 

In view of these facts it does not seem unjustifiable to 
issue the report in a somewhat enlarged form after two 
years' experience with it. 

Perhaps the reader may be interested to know also that 
New York has already carried out several of the recom- 
mendations, which may show that they are not without 
merit. 

Henry H. Goddard. 

ViNELAND, New Jersey. 



CONTENTS 

Page 

Editor's Preface vii 

Author's Preface ix 

Introduction . , , . . xv 

Chapter 

I. Some Existing Conditions in New York City . i 

II. What is Done for Children in Ungraded Classes 9 

III. Schoolroom AND Equipment FOR Ungraded Classes 19 

IV. Teachers of Ungraded Classes 25 

V. Supervision of Ungraded Classes .... 31 

VI. Suggestions from Principals and Teachers. . 37 

VII. The Importance of the Problem 43 

VIII. The Solution of the Problem S^ 

IX. Recommendations 71 

Appendix 77 

Index 93 



Introduction 



INTRODUCTION 

Many people who are turning their attention for the first 
time to this question of special classes, do not realize that 
the problem is not simply one of children who fall behind 
and need special instruction to bring them up to grade. 
Such persons will understand this report only when they 
grasp the fact that a "special class" pupil, "ungraded class" 
pupil or "mental defective," as here discussed, means a 
child who is so deficient in mentality that he cannot do ordi- 
nary school work satisfactorily; and, whatever he does, he 
will be unable to take his place in the world on anything like 
an equality with other individuals. He is lacking in reason 
or judgment or common sense, or whatever it may be 
termed, to such an extent that he cannot get along in the 
world by his own unaided efforts. The place of this type of 
child in the whole group of children may be indicated by the 
following classification. 

For social and pedagogical purposes, we may classify 
children into four main groups : First, normal. Second, 
supernormal. This latter term is applied to gifted children, 
i. e., children who have an intelligence above their age, or 
above the average child. Their superior intelligence en- 
ables them to profit rapidly and quickly by their environ- 
ment and their instruction and to forge ahead in the process 
of learning and of development. Their power should be 
utilized to their advantage : they should be led on to higher 
attainments and accomplishments than the average child can 
reach. Very little has been done as yet for the supernormal 
child. That there are two or three per cent, of such chil- 
dren in our schools is now recognized, and special classes 
for these precocious children is one of the next steps in a 



xvi Introduction 

careful and wise educational system. They, however, do 
not concern us at this time. 

The third group consists of those that we have called the 
merely backward, — those children who, for some cause, 
local, environmental, physical, or somewhat mental, are 
slow or dull and cannot progress at the rate that our ordi- 
nary school curriculum presupposes. Such backwardness, 
if due to environmental conditions, may be removed by 
changing the environment. If due to physical defect, such 
as slight deafness or eye troubles, to adenoids, or to illness, 
it may be removed through the good offices of the school 
physician. Such children, in most cases, will come near the 
average when these handicaps are removed. This group is 
coming to be more and more wisely cared for, as the school 
physician is more and more generally employed and more 
fully understands his possibilities for usefulness. When 
this backwardness is due to a mental condition, it is simply 
a somewhat sluggish brain which prevents the child from 
learning at the usual rate. These children must be led on 
patiently; they may require five years or more to do what 
average children do in four. They are not mentally defec- 
tive in the sense in which we use the term, but are merely 
backward. The coaching classes, or the classes for slow 
pupils, are intended for children of this type. The "E" 
classes, as they are called in New York City, are supposed 
to be for this type of child, although, as we shall see later, 
on account of failure to differentiate carefully between these 
and the true mental defective, the classes have a large pro- 
portion of children who are actually feeble-minded. If ' 
these could be weeded out and many more, who are in the : 
regular classes but who need this special help, could be ; 
transferred to the "E" classes, a great advance would be | 
made and these classes could be made to serve a very use- ; 
ful purpose indeed. , 

Then we come to our fourth group — the mentally defec- '\ 
tive or feeble-minded children; those who through either 
heredity or other causes are so badly retarded in mentality 



Introduction xvii 

that they can never overcome the difficulty, and must al- 
ways remain subnormal — i. e., they will always be incapable 
of taking their places in the world in competition with 
others. This group is subdivided into those of the high 
grade which we call moron, the middle grade or imbecile, 
and the low grade, or idiot. Idiots seldom get into the 
public schools. Their defect is so manifest that no one is 
tempted to try to teach them school subjects. The same is 
true, probably, of the lower half of the imbeciles. The bet- 
ter of the imbeciles, however, often get into the schools, 
and though they are easily recognized as defective, attempts 
are sometimes made to teach them what they cannot by 
any possibility learn. 

The morons are the difficult class to recognize — the 
class that constitutes our great social menace. Because 
they look like normal children and, to the uninitiated, often 
seem normal, they are considered responsible, and burdens 
are laid upon them, which they are in reality incapable of 
carrying. 

The great problem, as will be made clearer farther on, is 
to recognize this type of children ; to take them out of the 
regular classes; to place them in special classes and give 
them the kind of training which they can take; to do for 
them the best that can be done under the circumstances, 
never letting go of them, always keeping in touch with 
them, not until they are sixteen years of age only, but 
throughout the rest of their lives, to the end that they shall 
become not only as harmless as possible, but as useful and 
happy as they can be made. 

It is difficult for teachers and other school people (and, 
of course, especially difficult for parents) to realize that 
these children actually are feeble-minded. Everyone knows 
that they are not quite like other children, but they are 
often very handsome and otherwise attractive; and espe- 
cially they are very afifectionate. Thus in many ways they 
appeal to our interest and arouse our hopes. We are un- 
willing to admit that they are feeble-minded, and yet 



xviii Introduction 

wherever these children have been studied experience 
proves that this is the case. 

A child once feeble-minded is never made normal. A 
very, very small percentage of them can be trained so that 
they may be able to eke out a miserable existence, perhaps 
supporting themselves; but it is probably cruel to require 
even that of them. It would be much kinder and more 
humane to give them the opportunity to live in a social 
environment like a colony, where the harder problems of 
life do not come up to them, but where they can work and 
do as much as they are capable of doing, and can there- 
fore live comfortably and happily. 

The best way of detecting these children is to employ 
individuals who have lived for a year or more in institu- 
tions among children known to be feeble-minded. Through 
familiarity with the feeble-minded and study of them, a 
person becomes expert in recognizing them. This, like 
most other cases of expertness, is not understood by the 
laity and can hardly be comprehended, and as a result the 
diagnosis is often not believed. But it is only necessary to 
remember that the expert in any field has capabilities that 
the rest of us do not understand. The physician recognizes 
disease in persons where the rest of us see no indications 
of it. The alienist picks out the insane and will predict 
years before the violent outbreak that this or that person 
will ultimately become maniacal. In another field, we have 
examples of experts in, for instance, the use of the sense 
of taste. Experts in these lines do things that to the rest 
of us are little short of marvelous. In the same way, those 
who are familiar by long acquaintance with the feeble- 
minded are able to recognize them almost at a glance. 
Every superintendent of an institution for the feeble- 
minded can do this, and so can the other officers and the 
teachers. 

Another method, perhaps equally good, — surely in some 
respects superior, since the procedure is objective and can 
be demonstrated to others, — is the use of the Binet-Simon 



Introduction xix 

Measuring Scale of Intelligence. This scale in the hands 
of a well-trained person, a psychologist, yields results that 
are again quite as surprising as the achievements of the 
expert observer. These two methods have repeatedly cor- 
roborated each other to such an extent that we may regard 
either one as entirely satisfactory. We shall speak later of 
some of the methods by which the untrained, without the 
use of this scale, can make some estimate of the children 
who ought to go into the special classes. 

A word about the history of the care of these defectives 
may not be out of place at this point. Real work with de- 
fectives of almost any type is less than one hundred years 
old. It is true that somewhat earlier than that may be 
found some mention of the problem and some sympathetic 
utterances, particularly for the type known as cretins. In 
1811 Napoleon had a census made of the cretins in one 
of the cantons of Switzerland. They numbered 3,000. In 
18 16 a school was established in Switzerland. But the first 
real beginning was not made until 1837, when the famous 
Dr. Seguin began his work in systematic training of such 
children. 

About ninety years ago a few "idiotic" children were 
taken into the Asylum for the Deaf and Dumb in Hart- 
ford, Connecticut, and trained with a fair degree of suc- 
cess. This, however, was not continued long. In 1845 
agitation began in New York and Massachusetts which re- 
sulted later in the establishment of schools, the one in 
Barre, Massachusetts, the other in Syracuse, New York, 
in 1 85 1. These were distinctly institutions for the feeble- 
minded. 

The idea of special classes in the public schools seems to 
have been suggested by Stotser in Leipsic in 1863, and by 
Prof. August Shenck in America in 1878. As the result 
of the latter's agitation, two classes were started in Cleve- 
land, Ohio. In 1892 Chicago formed a class; in 1896, 
Providence, Rhode Island, and Portland, Maine; in 1899, 
Philadelphia. The novelty and strangeness of the move- 



XX Introduction 

ment is well indicated by the fact that in Providence a cer- 
tain newspaper reporter thought it was an excellent joke 
and wrote an elaborate account under the title of the "Fool 
Class." This designation was so obnoxious and was given 
such publicity that it set back the movement very decidedly 
in that city, for no one was willing to have his child placed 
in a class designated by such a name. The fear of such a 
result as this even now deters many boards of education 
from starting classes for defectives. As a matter of fact, 
there need be no trouble on this score, because wise man- 
agement easily prevents the attaching of any such stigma. 
Indeed, there are many instances of parents having asked 
to have their children placed in these classes. They are 
usually called "special classes," or, as in New York, "un- 
graded classes." 



School Training of Defective Children 

Some Existing Conditions In New York City 



". . . . the City of New York, with its immense sub- 
urbs, cannot much longer send its idiots to the northern 
cHmate of Syracuse, depriving them of the warmth of the 
seashore, and of the visits of their friends. But more. 
New York City must have its institution for idiots, be- 
cause it contains the mature talents and growing capacities 
in all the branches of human inquiry, whose concourse must 
be insured to perfect the method of treatment of these 
children, and to deduce therefrom the important discov- 
eries justly expected in anthropology." 

Eduard Seguin 
(Writing in 1866.) 



SCHOOL TRAINING OF DEFECTIVE 
CHILDREN 

CHAPTER I 

SOME EXISTING CONDITIONS IN NEW YORK 

CITY 

IN the year 1900 the first ungraded class in New York 
City was started in Public School No. i, Manhattan. 
In 1906 there were fourteen classes in Greater New York. 
Since that time the enormous growth of these classes is in 
itself both sufficient indication of the size of the problem 
and the reason for many shortcomings. 

In 1906 a special inspector of ungraded classes was ap- 
pointed. The duties of this inspector were to superintend 
the establishment of these classes, to secure teachers, and 
to decide what children should be placed in the classes, 
together with general oversight and direction of the work. 
Beginning, as we have said, with fourteen classes in 1906, 
there were forty-one classes in 1907, sixty-one in 1908, 
eighty-six in 1909, one hundred and three in 1910, one 
hundred and twenty-six at the beginning of 191 1, and in 
April, 19 12, one hundred and thirty-one. 

The writer personally visited one hundred and twenty- 
five classes. The one hundred and thirty-one classes are 
located in ninety-five public schools. In other words, less 
than one fourth of the schools of New York have ungraded 
classes. As a rule there is only one such class in a school. 
Fourteen schools, however, have two classes each, two 
schools have three classes each, one has four, and one 



2 Training of Defective Children 

school has six classes. Altogether there are nearly 2,500 
children in these ungraded classes. 

HOW CHILDREN ARE CHOSEN FOR THE UNGRADED CLASSES 
IN NEW YORK 

Principals of schools are asked by the City Superin- 
tendent to give their "personal attention to the conspic- 
uously backward children; to those who apparently are 
unable to learn to read; to those who have very deficient 
number sense ; to those who are truants or show a tendency 
to the habit ; to those who seem incorrigible ; and to notice- 
ably irritable, nervous children." ^ 

The principals rely largely upon the estimate of the 
teachers. Had the principals and teachers carefully heeded 
the superintendent's circular letter, a much larger propor- 
tion of defective children would have been reported. 

Here we meet the first great difficulty in our problem of 
adequately caring for the backward child. For many rea- 
sons the grade teacher is unqualified to decide properly on 
the mentality of the child. In the first place, she has never 
received any training to enable her to do this, and what- 
ever she happens to know has come either through her 
observation or through her incidental information in re- 
gard to normal and dull children. But she has always been 
led to believe that dullness in children was due to their en- 
vironment or their treatment; and that either they would 
eventually outgrow it, or by sufficient work on her own 
part could be brought up to grade. In other words, she 
has divided her children into idiots and normals. Her first 
group contains those that are obviously defective, as evi- 
denced by physical condition, appearance of stupidity, or 
absolute inability to comprehend anything in school. The 
other group includes all the rest of the children — those who 
are normal, those who are exceptionally bright, and those 
who are dull or slow. 

^Elementary School Circular No. 2, September 19, 191 1. 



Conditions in New York 3 

We now know that a very large proportion of those chil- 
dren who are thought by the teacher to be merely slow, or 
deficient in some one subject, are really mentally deficient; 
and while they may, because of having a fairly good mem- 
ory, make some progress in certain subjects or activities, 
they nevertheless can never be normal children, and should 
really be in ungraded classes. 

The second thing that interferes with the proper classi- 
fication of the children is the pride of the teacher or the 
principal of the school. Teachers have sometimes felt that 
it was a confession of failure to acknowledge that a child 
could not be brought up to grade. Principals have been 
proud that their schools were reasonably free from stupid 
children. 

Still a third reason is that mental def3ctiveness is often 
complicated with physical defect; and it is practically the 
universal custom to lay stress upon the physical defect and 
conclude that if this were removed the child would be nor- 
mal and develop properly, and that it was therefore wrong 
to put such a child in the ungraded class. On the other 
hand, conditions that are only temporary or individual 
idiosyncrasies are sometimes mistaken for signs of perma- 
nent mental defect, with the result that children are placed 
in these classes who are not defective, who are really almost 
normal, but have been mistaken by the teacher because she 
has been unable to understand them. The result of all this 
is that the nearly 2,500 children now in the ungraded 
classes, while largely feeble-minded and institution cases, 
nevertheless include some that are really of normal men- 
tality and should not be in these classes, but should rather 
be in the progress classes — the E classes — among those chil- 
dren whom special attention will bring up to grade. This 
condition of having in the ungraded classes children whose 
mentality ranges from that of a three-year-old to the men- 
tality of a normal child is very disadvantageous, and makes 
the work of the class unduly difficult for the teacher and 
expensive for the system. 



4 Training of Defective Children 

We have found, for instance, in these classes, imbeciles 
of Mongolian type, microcephalic idiots, hydrocephalic 
cases, cretins, a large number of middle and high-grade 
imbeciles, and also a large number of morons (defective 
children of the mentality of a normal child of from eight 
to twelve years). 

These classes are officially designated as classes for men- 
tally deficient children, and yet there is a very general effort 
on the part of the principals and teachers to get some of 
these children back into the grades. This lack of unifor- 
mity in policy is unfortunate. That little is achieved under 
such circumstances is shown by the results. In answer to 
the question, "liow many of these children have you sent 
or will you send back to the grades?" even the teachers 
themselves, with all their optimism, seldom say anything 
better than "one or two." "In the history of the class of 
five years we have sent back five to the grades." Teachers 
of the grades who have taken these children back some- 
times reported that they ought not to have been sent back. 

Whether the examiner who decides what children are to 
go into these classes ignores the fact that these classes are 
for mental defectives, or whether the normal children who 
get in are cases of "mistaken diagnosis," should be ascer- 
tained by the Department of Education. 

METHODS USED IN OTPIER CITIES 

Tn other cities various methods are used for selecting 
children for the "special classes," as they are generally 
called. In some places, for instance, it is left entirely to 
the teacher to report such cases as she thinks are candi- 
dates for the class. Again, all children who are more than 
two years behind their grade are selected. In other cases 
it is only those who are obviously feeble-minded. Of course 
this means that the special classes get only the low-grade 
imbeciles or idiots. In other cities this latter type is 
promptly rejected by the special classes, being considered 



Conditions in Nezv York 5 

institution cases and not trainable ; those selected for the 
special classes arc children who show that they can learn 
something, but yet are unable to progress at the rate of the 
normal children. The difficulty with all these methods is 
indicated in the foregoing discussion of the New York 
situation. They are inadequate and not based on scientific 
demonstration. 



WHAT CHILDREN SHOULD BE TESTED FOR MENTAL 
DEFICIENCY 

When we come fully to realize that human beings in- 
herit certain potential intelligences, or, in other words, be- 
long to certain strains or levels of intelligence, and that a 
large percentage belong to a level that is too low for normal 
functioning, then every case of backwardness or unusual or 
abnormal action in a child will be a case for close examina- 
tion and testing, — not that every such case will be really 
found to belong to that group, but we must be sure that it 
does not. When measles is not known to be prevalent in a 
community, a mild rash may be neglected, but when it is 
recognized as prevalent even a few pimples compel us to 
give the child a full examination. Mental deficiency is so 
prevalent that it behooves us to examine minutely every v 
case that offers the slightest suggestion of dullness. 

The most obvious group of suspects are the "over-age" 
pupils. Not all of them, of course, are defective. There 
are reasons for their over-age, but we must be very care- 
ful what we accept, and not pass them uncritically. When 
we examine them closely the great majority of these chil- 
dren will be found to be really defective. There are already 
experts — and more experts may easily be made by giving 
them the opportunity for study and for familiarity with 
the known defective — who can go into a schoolroom and 
pick out by simple observation those who are mentally 
defective. If there were enough of these experts to go 
around, we could very quickly eliminate all defectives from 



6 Training of Defective Children 

our regular classes and place them in the special classes. 
Such observation should undoubtedly be very generally cor- 
roborated by more careful tests. For this purpose nothing 
has yet offered itself that is as satisfactory as the Binet- 
Simon Measuring Scale of Intelligence. Nothing else is 
needed in the great mass of cases than this test, and we 
can rely absolutely upon it, — unless we should discover 
children whose actual accomplishment contradicts the re- 
sults of this test. I know of no such cases as yet. 

In cases where the test shows the child to be from two 
to three years backward, we have what we call the border- 
line case, and then it is desirable to supplement these tests 
by others which may turn the scale in one direction or the 
other at least, to make us feel that our diagnosis is safe. 
These tests must be used by persons who have been trained 
in their use and who have some psychological knowledge, 
as otherwise more or less serious errors may be made when 
it comes to a close diagnosis. In the selection of experts, 
likewise, caution should be exercised. The ordinary person 
who may think that he can recognize feeble-mindedness is 
not to be trusted, nor is the physician generally to be trusted 
on this point; the school physician or medical examiner 
often has had little or no experience with feeble-minded- 
ness en masse, and so hunts for stigmata of degeneration 
or other physical peculiarities that sometimes go with 
feeble-mindedness. The difficulty is that these things do 
not always go with feeble-mindedness and so a large group 
is missed by these so-called experts. 



What is Done for Children in Ungraded Classes 



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wiiyvr IS donp: \<u\< ciiiLDki-.N in UNCkADi-:!:) 

CLASSI'.S 

TIIIC usual pro^r.'ini is the tlircx' I\'s in llii' forenoon and 
some form of handwork (manna! (raining;) in llic 
afternoon. Nearly ail the cxperieneed teachers and the 
prineipals are agreed that hook work is larj^ely wasted npon 
these ehildren ; hnt they feel eonipelled to try to carry it on 
because it is the tradition of the system, and because the 
parents insist that their children shall be taught to read anil 
write. 

THK KUTII.ITV ()!•' TNSTRUCTINr, DICKI'.CTI VI'S IN Till-: 

tiiki:k u's 

Here is our second p;-reat difliculty in the problem. If 
some of these children can be taught reading, writing, and 
numbers to such .an extent that they can m.ake intelligent 
u.se of what they learn and thus increase their elliciency 
later in life, then it certainly should be done, even though 
it be slow and laborious. If, on the other hand, the work 
that they do is merely parrot work; if, because of their 
good memories (many have them), they are able to make 
certain associations and able to read out of a book after 
they have studied it a l«»ug, long time; ii they can perform 
certain numerical operations, but are unable to ajjply them, 
and have no real understanding of what they are doing, 
then all the time devoted to bookwork is wasted, and worse. 
Which view is correct? Opinions are divided. Most 
pecjple who are familiar witli the feeble-minded child as he 
is found in institutions and in the I lilfsschnlen of (lermany 

9 



10 Training of Defective Children 

and the Special Classes of London believe that the children 
in the ungraded classes of our city belong to the latter 
group; that is to say, they believe that it is wrong to at- 
tempt to teach such children any of this work. 

The only way to solve the problem is to appeal to ex- 
perience. Had a careful record been kept of every child 
who has been in the ungraded classes; his actual condition; 
what he had learned in the way of reading, writing, and 
counting; and then of his after history, and the extent to 
which he had been able to make a living because of his 
ability to use his knowledge of the three R's, we, might by 
this time have an answer to the question. As a matter of 
fact, no such records have been kept. We have continually 
asked teachers, "What do you know about these children 
after they leave the ungraded class at the age of sixteen?" 
The answers have been almost uniformly of one kind, al- 
though couched in various forms. Frequently it is a mere 
shrug of the shoulders, sometimes with the remark, "That 
is a problem." More than one teacher has said, "They 
soon find their way to the Juvenile Court." Others say, 
"Oh, they are on the streets." Or, again, "One boy got a 
job for a few months, but could not keep it." Another 
teacher said, "This boy comes to me every few months to 
get him a job." 

As indicated in the foregoing paragraphs, there is still 
some difference in opinion on this question of the three R's 
for mental defectives. The writer himself has no doubt 
on the subject. They are almost entirely out of place with 
children who are mentally defective. Only a small per- 
centage of the very highest grades of such children can 
make any use of them whatever. This is a matter of ob- 
servation which can be confirmed over and over again. 
Now, if, by some method unknown to the writer, we could 
determine beforehand which children can learn the three 
R's so as to use them, then there would be no objection to 
teaching such children the elements of these subjects; but,, 
if we cannot detect those who are able to profit by such in- 



Children in Ungraded Classes ii 

strtiction, far less loss and injury will be done by neglecting 
the very small percentage that might learn something of 
reading, of writing, and of numbers than by trying to teach 
these things to the entire group of defectives in our schools. 

The psychology of defectives points definitely to the futil- 
ity of attempting to teach these subjects to such children, 
and it confirms and explains what experience shows to be 
the fact. The reason the unobserving have so often thought 
that feeble-minded children can learn these things is that 
they confuse intelligence with memory. Mentally defective 
children are not necessarily defective in memory. Indeed, 
as a rule, they have as good memories, up to a certain point, 
as normal people, and oftentimes they have phenomenal 
memories. Now, take a child in school with only average 
memory — to say nothing of one having a superior memory 
— and by constant drill he can be taught the matter that is 
given him in reading and writing and counting; he can re- 
peat it parrot fashion. He does not understand it and as a 
consequence will never be able to make practical use of it. 

The real test should be, not what does he remember and 
what can he repeat, how well can he do the usual school 
work, but how much does he understand? How much of 
what he seems to have learned can he use in actual life? 

I have said that these children have good memories up 
to a certain point. The point is a psychological one ; that 
is to say, they have what is known as good natural re- 
tentiveness, but they do not possess that other element in 
memory which makes the normal individual efficient, 
namely, logical association. There is every reason to be- 
lieve that the defect of judgment or intelligence or all of 
those higher qualities that we find lacking in the mental 
defective is due to some kind of derangement, particularly 
in the association fibers of the brain; at least, while there 
is not as yet any neurological proof of this derangement, 
nevertheless, psychologically, it is easy to show that these 
children are lacking, first and foremost, in the power of 
abstraction and in all forms of association which involve 



12 Training of Defective Children 

abstract thinking. Now, reading of itself involves ab- 
straction. It is the use of symbols to stand for concrete 
things. A defective child can understand the concrete 
things, he cannot understand the symbols — at least, to any \ 
extent sufficient to enable him to carry on his thought by 
means of those symbols. 

THE ADVISABILITY OF MANUAL TRAINING FOR DEFECTIVES 

There is a feeling common among certain persons that 
when we refuse to teach reading and arithmetic to defectives 
we are depriving them of something which is their inalien- 
able right. That is not the proper view. We are simply 
refusing to attempt to do the impossible or nearly impossi- 
ble. We wish to substitute something which is possible and 
practicable and which makes these children happy. In 
other words, reading, writing, and arithmetic are not neces- 
sary to happiness or efficiency, as is testified by thousands 
of people who can do none of them. Defectives can be 
taught to do manual work the doing of which makes them 
happy and useful, and if this is done they never miss the 
reading or writing. 

As has been said, there are very few records of defective 
children not in school; and those that we do have, which 
have been secured by exceptionally zealous teachers who 
have watched their children after they have left school, 
seem to indicate that it is very rare that these children make 
good out of school, even though their needs are very slight. 
They are generally on the street, in the Juvenile Court, 
or are sent to some Institution. 



UNSATISFACTORY CONDITIONS FOR MANUAL TRAINING WORK 
IN NEW YORK CITY UNGRADED CLASSES 

The experience with children in institutions for feeble- 
minded, the country over, is that manual training is the 
one thing that they can be taught; consequently we have 



Children in Ungraded Classes 13 

turned with interest to the usual afternoon program of the 
ungraded classes to see what is being done in this direc- 
tion. Here we find two or three difficulties. In the first 
place, very few classes have any adequate supply of material 
to work with. Some of them, indeed, have not any equip- 
ment. The classes that have enough wood, raffia, reed, 
yarn, twine, cloth, thread, needles, etc., to carry on their 
manual work are very few indeed. One can count on the 
fingers of one hand the schools that answered, "Yes, we 
have all the material that we need;" while the conditions 
in schools where they do not have enough is pathetic and 
even ridiculous. In some classes the only lumber to work 
with is pieces of old boxes which the children are able to 
bring in. In another school remnants have sometimes been 
begged of John Wanamaker with which some of their 
needlework could be done. In other schools some of the 
mats and rugs made were unraveled and torn to pieces in 
order that the material might be used again ! Much of the 
material furnished is poor or not adapted to the defective 
child. Many of the things needed are not on the list sup- 
plied by the Department of Education. 

Not only is it true that the material is inadequate, but 
oftentimes the equipment is so exceedingly slow in coming 
as to handicap the work materially. In some schools classes 
have been established for nearly two years, and yet no 
equipment has arrived. The following letter is typical of 
a number of cases : 

New York, March 20, 19 12, 

My Dear Dr. : 

In regard to the need of equipment in our ungraded 
class, about which you asked me, I find that : 

The class was established in November, 19 10, and I 
supposed that the installing of an equipment would be 
automatic. When it did not come, allowing for the 
slowness of things in general, I wrote that we 



14 Training of Defective Children 

needed it, and waited. I wrote also to — — — on 
December i, 191 1, and to the Board of Superintendents 
on February 12, 1912. To none of these letters have 
I ever received a direct reply, so that officially I do not 
know that they were ever received. 

I have written Miss Farrell at least four times on the 
matter and have called her and the District Superin- 
tendent on the telephone several times. Last October I 
called on Miss Farrell at the office and mentioned the 
subject. Once she called me up and told me she had 
heard that there were three sets of apparatus on hand 
and that I had better speak for them. I did so imme- 
diately, but have heard nothing as yet concerning it. 
Very truly yours 

The regular desks cannot be taken out of the room be- 
cause the proper official does not get around to do it, and 
the equipment of tables and benches needed for these classes 
cannot be put in until the desks are taken out. In a num- 
ber of schools where there are tables and chairs and two 
or three work benches, there are no tools, no hammers or 
saws, or anything else to work with. In one room the 
benches were piled on top of each other because they were 
useless without tools or material to work with. In one 
class, established last fall, the desks are so crowded that 
there are no aisles, and not a desk is allowed to be re- 
moved. Think of the cruelty to both teacher and pupils 
of having to do their work in such a room for nearly an 
entire school year! 

Even in those classes where the equipment is complete 
and where there is a fair supply of material, the work is 
seldom satisfactory. This is due mainly to two reasons. 
First, the teachers are inadequately trained. As a rule, they 
are those who have little understanding of manual work; 
they know only one or two kinds, or have merely picked 
up a little here and there; they have seen this device or 
that, have been attracted by it, have put it into their daily 



Children in Ungraded Classes 15 

program, and are working it with their children, but with- 
out continuity of purpose, with no sign of all the differ- 
ent activities working together for educational result. Sec- 
ond, almost all these classes, as shown above, contain too 
wide a range of mental capacity. As has been said, they 
range from the low-grade imbecile to the high-grade moron, 
the almost normal child, with possibly one or two that are 
normal. Under such conditions it is unreasonable to ex- 
pect any satisfactory procedure. In a few schools very 
satisfactory work is being done in spite of all the handi- 
caps. The conditions are the result of a situation which 
has come about suddenly ; no one adequately understands 
it, and it can be bettered only through a careful study of 
the conditions by teachers, superintendents, supervisors, the 
Board of Education, and, lastly, the public and the tax- 
payer. 




o ^ 



W M 



H ^ 



I 



Schoolroom and Equipment for Ungraded Classes 



CHAPTER III 

SCHOOLROOM AND EQUIPMENT FOR UN- 
GRADED CLASSES 

THE rooms in which these classes are accommodated 
are, Hke the children in the classes, of all grades from 
the lowest to the highest; that is to say, from the small, 
dark, dingy, inadequate up to the large, light, airy, well- 
located — ^in short, the best room in the building, as several 
principals have proudly declared. On the whole, the rooms 
are good. There is a large number of excellent rooms; 
only a few are poor, and these are the best that could be 
obtained under the circumstances. 

A more serious difficulty is the large number of schools 
that have no ungraded class. In many of these it is again 
a question of room. In a few schools an ungraded class is 
very much desired, but there is no place to accommodate it. 
The only way in which a room could be provided in these 
schools would be to put some of the normal children on part 
time, and this is not considered desirable. 

What is the ideal room and equipment depends a little 
upon circumstances, but some general directions may be 
given, to which such slight modifications may be made a^ 
circumstances require. The rooms in the new school build- 
ings in New York City are perhaps as near a standard as 
we could ask for. They are large, with high ceilings, light 
on two sides, well heated and ventilated, with cases for the 
work and materials along one side of the room and black- 
boards on the other. They are furnished with two or three 
carpenters' benches, four or five tables and chairs, and 
usually a sand table. The equipment of course depends 
upon the character of the class that is to occupy the room. 
If it is what we should call in usual school terms a one-class 



I 



19 



20 Training of Defective Children 

room, that is to say, a room for all grades and all ages and 1 
both sexes, then we must provide such a room. On the 
other hand, if it is one of several rooms in a school for 
defectives, then it is equipped for the particular grade and 
size of pupils that are to occupy it. If, in such a school for 
defectives, departmental work is carried on (of which we 
shall speak later), then each particular room will be 
equipped for the particular kind of work to be done. 



A STANDARD ROOM FOR AN UNGRADED CLASS 

In the following description we give details of a room, 
with its equipment, that is to have all grades and ages. To 
transform this into a special room in a school for defectives, 
omit the articles that would not be needed, and multiply the 
number of the articles that would be needed for the par- 
ticular type of child and work that is planned for this 
room. 

First of all, the room should be large, light and airy. 
These children are often physically, as well as mentally, de- 
fective, and every convenience and condition which is con- 
ducive to their improvement in health should be supplied. 

The plan is for a room for fifteen children. This is 
more than should be put in one class. Ten would be better. 
But inasmuch as it is often found necessary to put in as 
many as fifteen, we have put our estimate on that basis. 

A room thirty by forty feet, with a south and east or 
south and west exposure, would be the most desirable. If 
possible, windows should reach the floor and swing, so as 
to make an open-air room in all suitable weather. 

The walls should be of a neutral tint, such as light buf¥ 
or green. 

Instead of the usual school desks, the room should have 
tables and chairs which can be pushed aside to clear the 
floor for play or exercise. Since the children that are 
placed in a special class are graded by mentality rather 
than by chronological age or physical height, the tables and 



Equipment for Ungraded Classes 21 

chairs should be of varying sizes to fit the different children. 
Strong, well-made chairs are desirable. They should be of 
approximately the following heights, three of each: 12 
inches, 133^ inches, 15 inches, 16^ inches, and 18 inches. 
Kindergarten chairs will fit the two smaller sizes ; large 
chairs can be cut down for the medium ones. There should 
be three each of the following size tables : 22 inches high, 
26 X 18 inches top; 24 inches high, 30 x 20 inches top; 26 
inches high, 34 x 22 inches top; 28 inches high, 38 x 24 
inches top ; 30 inches high, 42 x 26 inches top. These may 
be supplied with rubber tips on the legs if desired. They 
should be very simply made — plain board top with a batten 
across each end into which the legs should fit. There 
should be no boxing, because this would interfere with the 
arranging of the tables when they are put away. If they 
are made of the dimensions specified, they may be "nested," 
the five being placed together, occupying only the space of 
one, so that the whole fifteen, when not in use, may be put 
away at one side of the room, occupying only the space of 
three tables, the smaller ones fitting under the larger ones. 
The tops should be finished plain without varnish, as that 
looks bad when cut or scratched, and the tables should be 
usable for all sorts of work. 

There should be eight work benches of suitable form for 
the wood working that is to be done by the children. These 
should be single work benches, adjustable, and small enough 
to be placed along the sides of the room where the win- 
dows are, so as to have good light at work. 

Around the other two sides of the room should be cases 
for storing work and materials, 18 inches deep and 4 feet 
high, with sliding doors. The tops would thus serve for 
ornaments, for exhibiting work, for plants, or anything of 
that sort which is convenient. 

The space between the windows should be filled with 
blackboards which come down lov/ enough for the smallest 
children, but also high enough for the teacher's use. Of 
course, necessary tools for all sorts of work should be pro- 



I 



22 Training of Defective Children 

vided as desired by the teacher, also materials such as lum- 
ber, paper, reed and raffia, cloth, yarn, etc., inks, brushes, 
varnishes, stains, etc. 

Adjoining this room there should be a bathroom with a 
shower bath at least, if not a tub, and also a cloak room. 
This bathroom might also be made suitable to do laundry 
work and possibly also what kitchen work may^be needed, 
either for training the children in domestic science or for 
preparing their own luncheons. If preferred, this kitchen 
work may be done in the main schoolroom, where there 
should also be dishes and everything necessary for setting 
a table. These can be used both for the educational work 
and for lunches for the children. 

There may also be had the equipment for the various 
other rooms in a home, such as a bed with bedding and 
other articles of furnishing. If desired, a folding screen 
may be used, about six feet high, which shall screen off a 
portion of the main room, thereby making it on occasions 
either a bedroom, a dining-room, a sitting-room, or what- 
ever room the teacher desires to use in her instruction in 
household work. 

Such books as are necessary may be kept in or on the 
cupboards, and the tables and chairs will be all that will 
be needed when anything in the line of book work is going 
on. A few pieces of gymnastic apparatus, such as a horse, 
a jumping bar, and the like may be easily kept in the cor- 
ners of the room ; also a gymnasium mat may be utilized to 
the great joy and advantage of the children. 

Some, of course, will prefer to have separate rooms for 
these different things, carrying on more or less depart- 
mental work with such a group. However, it must not be 
forgotten that these children come from homes that are 
of the simplest sort, and it is probably not desirable to set 
before them ideals of room and space to which they can 
never attain ; so that it is not altogether a disadvantage to 
have everything in one room and to make that room now 
a schoolroom, now a laundry, now a bedroom, and so on. 



Teachers of Ungraded Classes 



CHAPTER IV 
I TEACHERS OF UNGRADED CLASSES 

I THE SUPPLY OF TRAINED TEACHERS 

OUR third great difficulty in this problem is to secure 
teachers for these classes. It is practically impossible 
to obtain an adequate supply of trained teachers. There are 
only a few places in the entire United States where persons 
can get anything like an adequate training. Institutions 
for the feeble-minded should be the model schools for 
teachers that are taking training in this line of work, but 
these institutions very rarely train teachers other than their 
own, and those persons who teach in institutions for the 
feeble-minded are seldom willing to leave their positions 
for public school positions. There are now several places 
where instruction on the theoretical side is given. But 
without actual acquaintance with feeble-minded children 
of all types, the teacher is left as the physician would be 
who had gone through his medical course but had had no 
laboratory or hospital experience. 

HOW TEACHERS ARE OBTAINED FOR THE UNGRADED CLASSES 

In the absence of such trained teachers, the next best 
thing has to be done. The grade teachers of three years' 
experience are encouraged to take the special examination^ 
for teachers of these ungraded classes. They 'are then trans- 
ferred to those classes to work out their salvation as best 
they may. The difficulty here is the difficulty that we al- 
ways meet when we encounter anything like a civil service 
examination or a fixed examination of people for these 
positions. No' one has yet discovered any sure way of 
selecting the right person by means of a fixed examination. 
The result is that we have found certified teachers in these 

^ For sample examination questions used in New York City and in 
New Jersey, see Appendix. 

25 



26 Training of Defective Children 

classes who are in no way fitted for the work. On the 
other hand, we have found people who are teaching as sub- 
stitutes, having failed in their examination, who are never- 
theless doing excellent work. It should be said that the 
teachers are, as a rule, faithful, conscientious, interested in 
their problem, and very largely more or less cognizant of 
the problem. The most hopeful sign is that nearly all of 
them are painfully aware of their own lack of training and 
their own inability to do for the children what they feel 
might be done, A few teachers are utterly incompetent, 
and some of these are substitutes. 

THE QUALIFICATIONS AND TRAINING REQUISITE FOR A 
TEACHER OF DEFECTIVES 

Every employer of teachers knows the difference between 
a good teacher and a poor one, and the value of the former ; 
but nowhere in the whole educational system is this dif- 
ference so important as in the case of teachers of defec- 
tives. Nowhere are good teachers so valuable and no- 
where is the poor teacher such an utter failure and capable 
of doing so much harm. The teacher of normal children 
has been a normal child herself; consequently, she knows 
something about normal children. If she knows the sub- 
ject that she is to teach, she can avoid being a total failure 
and disgrace. It is not so with the teacher of defectives. 
She has never been a defective child; she does not know 
how defective children look at the problems to be solved 
and she does not realize what they can understand. Often 
the better her scholarship, the poorer her teaching power. 

Now this difficulty can only be overcome by such care- 
ful training as will enable the teacher of defectives to ap- 
preciate the minds of the children that she has to deal with. 
There is practically nothing that can give her this power 
except association with a group of knoum defectives of 
high grade. A teacher without this experience can hardly 
ever bring herself to the point where she always remembers 
that this big girl sixteen years old has really only the mind 



Teachers of Ungraded Classes 27 

of a six-year-old child. Hence she repeatedly treats her 
pupil as if she were a normal sixteen-year-old girl or ex- 
pects her to behave like such a girl. Since the pupil cannot 
respond to such treatment or such expectation, difficulties 
are inevitable. 

Our idea of a teacher of defective children is, accord- 
ingly, one who loves such children and who knows and 
understands them because she has had as much experience 
as possible (a year at least) with known defectives, pref- 
erably in an institution for the feeble-minded. Further- 
more, she should have studied, under instruction, the theo- 
retical side of her problem and its history, and she should 
know the psychology of the defective child. Only such a 
teacher can be free from prejudices and can be willing to be 
led bv the child along his feeble-minded way. To attempt 
to lead him along the way of the normal child can result 
only in failure. 

As is said elsewhere in this report, there is at present no 
adequate supply of such teachers. Under these circum- 
stances, the best thing that boards of education and super- 
intendents can do is to select from their regular teachers 
those who are successful with normal children, because they 
have the proper attitude toward all children and are inter- 
ested in them, and who have an interest in defectives and 
in work with them; and then to send such teachers, prefer- 
ably at the expense of the board, to some institution for 
the feeble-minded where they can get first hand acquaint- 
ance with defective children. If, in these institutions, 
courses are given on the theory and the psychology of the 
treatment of defectives, so much the better. If not, then 
the teachers must get such courses elsewhere, say in a uni- 
versity. In some such way teachers may be prepared and 
equipped for this work. 

Perhaps it is unnecessary to add that any teacher who, on 
account of age or temperament, is unable to change her 
point of view and acquire the attitude necessary for a 
teacher of defectives, should not be selected for this work. 



Supervision of Ungraded Classes 



i 



CHAPTER V 
SUPERVISION OF UNGRADED CLASSES 

INADEQUACY OF THE PRESENT SYSTEM OF SUPERVISION 

^HIS is the next great difficulty: There is little or no 
supervision of ungraded classes. The inspector of 
mgraded classes has other duties incumbent upon her which 
require so much of her time that little is left for visiting 
classes and helping the teachers. The inadequacy of the 
present plan of supervision will be realized when it is re- 
membered that the principal of a school with no more than 
thirty to sixty classes is considered to have enough to do, 
and usually more than enough. But his classes are all un- 
der one roof. The inspector of ungraded classes has one 
hundred and thirty-one classes scattered all over Greater 
New York — some of them requiring a great deal of time 
to reach by the usual means of transportation. Would it 
not be a matter of simple economy to furnish the inspector 
of ungraded classes with an automobile which could take 
her in the least possible time to the various schools? 

The principal of the school in which the class is placed 
has no official responsibility. It is true that in many cases 
principals are so interested that they have learned more or 
less about the problem; in one way or another they have 
acquired knowledge of the subject and are helpful to their 
teachers. Nevertheless, this is accidental and is to the 
credit of the principal rather than of the system. That 
some principals do not feel this interest is shown by one 
who, in reply to the question, "What suggestions have you 
in regard to the ungraded class?" said, 'T have nothing 

31 



i 



32 Training of Defective Children 

whatever to do with it. The Board of Education has a 
specialist who takes entire charge of this class. If you 
ask me about my regular grades, I can tell you anything 
you want to know, but with the ungraded class I have 
nothing whatever to do." This frank statement, although 
unusual, reveals an entirely justifiable position. We have 
no right to expect that a principal who has from thirty 
to seventy-five classes in his building — from i,ooo to 3,000 
children — shall also add to his responsibilities the problem 
of dealing efTfectively with the feeble-minded child and 
make himself an adequate supervisor of such work. That 
every principal who has such a class in his building ought 
to know enough about the problem to give the teacher free 
rein and to help in the matter of material, program, etc., is 
true. But adequate and effective supervision by the prin- 
cipals is more than the public has the right to ask. 

QUALITIES AND DUTIES OF A SUPERVISOR OF UNGRADED 

CLASSES 

A supervisor of classes or schools for defectives should 
of course have all the qualities necessary in any supervisor. 
He or she should know the problem thoroughly, have a wide 
experience, be conversant with all the experiments that have 
been made and all the methods in use in other places, and 
should have a profound sympathy both for the child and 
for the teacher. But, above all, he or she should be a 
supervisor — not a clerk or statistician or a home visitor or 
a social worker ; not even, except in rare instances, the per- 
son who sits in an office and meets the parents when they 
come. His or her business should be with the education 
of the child and with the teacher. By hypothesis, the super- 
visor knows more about the problem than anybody else; 
knows all the possibilities of methods; knows all kinds of 
children; knows teachers and is able and has the time, or 
should have, to visit the teachers often, giving them help 
and suggestions as they need it. 



i 



I 




CO 

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So 

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'7) [r, 

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Supervision of Ungraded Classes 33 

The teachers of special classes have problems of which 
the regular teachers know nothing. It must inevitably hap- 
pen, and happen frequently, that these teachers become tem- 
porarily discouraged. Further, they often face problems 
which they could probably solve in time, but which ought to 
be solved quickly to relieve the stress and strain. They 
should be able to call upon their supervisors, who in turn 
should be able to come promptly and give advice and help 
and sympathy, to the end that the work of the teachers may 
be lightened and their efficiency increased. 

To do this, the supervisor cannot have other duties, to 
any considerable extent, nor can she supervise a vast num- 
ber of schools. When our Boards of Education learn that 
clerical help is cheap and easily provided, but that the right 
kind of supervisors and principals are hard to find, they 
will then realize the folly of paying a ten-dollar-a-day per- 
son to do one-dollar-a-day work; or of setting a person 
who has the ability to do tasks that only a few can do to 
do work that can be done by almost anybody. At present 
this foolish and expensive thing is done over and over 
again. We employ supervisors and keep them busy a 
fourth or a half or even two thirds of their time on clerical 
work. We do the same with principals. This is an enor- 
mously wasteful and expensive procedure. 



I 



Suggestions from Principals and Teachers 



I 



CHAPTER VI 

SUGGESTIONS FROM PRINCIPALS AND 
TEACHERS 

IN the foregoing chapters are given the most important 
facts revealed by personal visits to the ungraded classes 
in New York City. 

Wherever possible, teachers and principals were asked for 
suggestions, born of their experience, which might help to 
increase the efficiency of the ungraded classes. Some of 
the ideas revealed were so universally held, and others were 
so significant, as to deserve careful consideration. 

Nearly all concerned, both teachers and principals, feel 
that these defective children are institutional cases, that 
they do not belong in the public school at all, but should 
be cared for in institutions for the feeble-minded. But 
when asked the question, "How many parents would con- 
sent to these children going to institutions?" they imme- 
diately admit that there would be very few indeed, and so 
the question remains, "How shall they be cared for?" This 
we shall discuss later. 

Many principals and some teachers suggested that these 
children should be given working papers before they have 
fulfilled the requirements of the present law. Their argu- 
ment was this : These children can never attain the re- 
quired proficiency in reading, writing, and arithmetic. If 
by dint of a great deal of drill they are brought up to the 
point where they may somehow pass the examination, it is 
still a purely perfunctory achievement and has done them 
no good. On the other hand, for many of these children, 
the very best thing is to put them at work where they can 

37 



38 Training of Defective Children 

be trained by their fathers or mothers or persons who are 
willing to take charge of them and see that they are taught 
to do some sort of work ; as this is the only thing that they 
can ever do and the best thing for them, it is folly to keep 
them in school a year or two after they are ready for that 
work. Here again the question can only be satisfactorily 
understood and settled by the adoption of a comprehensive 
plan for the solution of the whole problem. 

Again, teachers and principals almost universally feel 
that these children, although cared for by the school sys- 
tem, should not be in separate classes in the regular schools ; 
but that centers or schools should be established, so located 
that they could take all the children who are now in these 
ungraded classes, and those that ought to be in them, in a 
given area; there, brought together in one building, they 
could be cared for and supervised and directed as necessity 
required. 

Practically all principals were agreed that some more 
efficient and available means for giving the teachers the 
material they require should be provided. Many state that 
some better method of distributing supplies should be pro- 
vided for these classes so that the teachers could have the 
material that they need, of the kind that they need, and 
when they need it; and should not be compelled to spend 
their own money for things which they cannot get along 
without, and yet which the authorities do not provide. 

Practically all principals agree that some better plan for 
supervision should be provided. They say that it is not 
in their "line" ; that they have not the time to devote to this 
special work, and consequently they are unable to offer to 
the teachers the help that is needed. 

A few principals complain of the examinations that are 
required for teachers of this class, saying that excellent 
teachers are frequently denied a certificate and so their 
classes are crippled. 

A considerable number complain also that children recom- 
mended for the classes have never been examined. Some 



i 



Suggestions from Principals and Teachers 39 

complain that children are returned as unfit for the un- 
graded class because they are not sufficiently backward to 
warrant their being transferred, the testimony of the prin- 
cipal being entirely ignored. 

And lastly, many principals say that they could select 
teachers from their schools who could pass the examina- 
tions and would make ideal teachers for these classes; but 
that the teachers are unwilling to undertake the work, feel- 
ing that it is difficult and arduous and has many drawbacks, 
and that there is not sufficient compensation to induce them 
to make the change. 

All these matters are important. 



\ 



The Importance of the Problem 



CHAPTER VII 
THE IMPORTANCE OF THE PROBLEM 

THE conditions discovered and set forth in the preced- 
ing chapters, together with the recommendations re- 
ceived from principals and teachers, agree with the theo- 
retical view that this problem is much larger than has yet 
been appreciated. The most extensive study ever made of 
the children of an entire public-school system of two thou- 
sand has shown that 2 per cent, of such children are so 
mentally defective as to preclude any possibility of their 
ever being made normal and able to take care of them- 
selves as adults. (See Pedagogical Seminary for June, 
191 1, "Two Thousand Children Tested by the Binet-Simon 
Scale," by Henry H. Goddard.) 

THE BINET-SIMON MEASURING SCALE OF INTELLIGENCE 

Since this result was obtained by the use of the Binet- 
Simon Measuring Scale of Intelligence, it stands or falls 
with the validity of the scale. The Binet-Simon Measuring 
Scale of Intelligence is the result of years of study by one 
of the ablest psychologists of modern times. The scale 
itself has been tested and retested on groups of children 
large and small. Practically the only valid criticisms that 
have ever been made of it have suggested that it might be 
improved in some of its details. It has never been re- 
jected by anyone as useless. The only seriously adverse 
criticisms have been made either by persons who have not 
used the scale on more than a handful of children or who 
have not used it intelligently. Those persons who have 

43 



I 



44 Training of Defective Children 

used it on large numbers of children have declared that the 
more they use it the better satisfied they are with it. While 
no one claims for it that the results obtained should take 
precedence over all other evidence in the case of an indi- 
vidual child, no one has denied that it is able to give us an 
accurate percentage of normal, backward, and precocious 
children in any group. With the record that it has made, 
any attempt to ignore the results as shown by this method 
would savor strongly of prejudice. 

THE NUMBER OF MENTALLY DEFICIENT CHILDREN IN NEW 
YORK CITY SCHOOLS 

It is indeed startling to read that 2 per cent, of school 
children are feeble-minded. But every new and unex- 
pected discovery is more or less startling. In this case the 
findings are not without corroboration from other sources, 
for those who are willing to face the facts fairly. 

According to this estimate of 2 per cent, there are 15,000 
feeble-minded children in the public schools of New York. 
The only escape from this conclusion would be the assump- 
tion that in New York City there is a better condition of 
things than exists in a small city and rural population in 
Southern New Jersey. Certainly one who is familiar with 
conditions in Greater New York would hardly claim that 
such is the case. 

I have examined a number of children in the New York 
schools by this scale, and am entirely convinced that the 
2 per cent, is well within the mark. In the short time that 
was available for this entire investigation it has not been 
possible to use the scale extensively or systematically ; never- 
theless, by careful samplings here and there, results have 
been obtained that are strikingly significant. I give these 
results as concisely and clearly as possible. 

First, three ungraded classes were examined in toto. 
These three classes comprised forty-six children, of whom 
twenty-nine were distinctly feeble-minded, ranging from 



The Importance of the Problem 45 

four to nine years backward. Eight more were three years 
backward ; six were two years backward, and three were 
one year backward. There is every reason to beheve that 
a good proportion (with the possibiHty that all) of the 
fourteen who were two and three years backward will 
prove to be feeble-minded ; for we have discovered from 
our study of mental defectives that there is a type of child 
that slows down until about the age of nine or ten ; and then 
stops; so that many children of eleven or twelve who, by 
the test, are only two years backward, are found to be 
near their stopping place, and do not develop after that. 
By the time they are thirteen or fourteen they reveal them- 
selves as distinctly feeble-minded. 

Tests were made also of eighty-one children in the spe- 
cial or E classes. Of these, twenty-nine were feeble- 
minded, being from four to eight years behind ; fifteen 
were three years behind; sixteen were two years behind; 
fourteen were one year backward, and seven were at age. 
It will be seen that in this case more than one-third of the 
members of these E classes were distinctly feeble-minded. 
It seems hardly possible that such a percentage holds for the 
total of E classes. Nevertheless, the test indicates, as we 
should expect, that a large percentage of the pupils in the 
E classes are mentally defective. There are nearly 25,000 
children in the special E classes. It would be a very con- 
servative estimate to say that not 33 per cent., but 10 per 
cent, of these are defective. This would give us 2,500 
defective children in these classes alone. 

We examined twenty-two children in the special D 
classes, those preparing for a working certificate. Of the 
twenty-two examined, twenty-one were from four to eight 
years backward, being feeble-minded ; one was three years 
backward, possibly not feeble-minded. These were in two 
schools. In one case the entire class was examined — at 
least all that were present that day, it being a holiday for 
some of the children — and the eleven present were all 
feeble-minded ; the teacher assured us that those who were 



46 Training of Defective Children 

absent were, in her opinion, much more deficient than any 
of those present. Likewise, in the second class, where there 
were twenty-seven enrolled, and eleven were examined, all 
were from five to eight years back, therefore feeble-minded. 
In this class also the teacher assured us that the worst cases 
had not been tested — only the doubtful ones. But ignoring 
that, and taking the facts alone, we still have ten out of 
twenty-six who are feeble-minded. That is almost 40 per 
cent. There are in the D classes 2,461 children. If this 
proportion holds throughout the D classes of the city, there 
are almost 1,000 feeble-minded children in this group alone. 

In neither of these groups, the special E classes or the 
special D classes, is it maintained that we have a sample 
of the entire group of children. It is entirely possible that 
these classes in other sections of the city are made up quite 
differently and do not contain so large a percentage of de- 
fectives ; nevertheless, the fact remains that in some sections 
they are made up of defectives, and these children should 
be in the ungraded classes instead of where they are. 

Besides these groups we have also tested a few children 
from the regular grades in each of five schools, one of these 
schools already having an ungraded class. Of one hundred 
and fifteen children tested in the five schools, thirty-three 
were distinctly feeble-minded, and thirty more were border- 
line cases. These were, of course, selected cases. In each 
of these five schools, therefore, there is an average of twelve 
children that ought to be in an ungraded class, and there 
is no probability that we discovered all that there were in 
any one school. Moreover, these schools were located in 
the upper west side, lower west side, lower east side. Flush- 
ing, and Borough of Brooklyn, so that they are fairly rep- 
resentative of the city. 

Furthermore, in one high school, at the request of a 
teacher, we examined five cases that were selected by her. 
They all proved to be feeble-minded. Asked how feeble- 
minded children came to be in the high school, the reply 
was, "They are not allowed to stay more than two years 



The Importance of the Problem 47 

in any one grade, and so they are promoted whether they 
are fit or not, and in that way get into the high school." 

Since the pubHcation of this paragraph in the Interim 
Report and its attempted denial by the Superintendent of 
Schools, a number of teachers in different high schools in 
New York have told the writer that they knew positively of 
defective children in their schools ; hence it is perfectly 
clear that the incident here cited, which was carefully ex- 
amined and tested, is by no means the only case of the 
kind in the high schools of New York. 

I believe that the foregoing figures amply justify the 
conclusion that there are 15,000 feeble-minded children in 
the public schools of New York, and even make it probable 
that the estimate is a conservative one. I should add that 
many a principal has assured me that he has in his regu- 
lar classes more than enough children to make another un- 
graded class in his school, and my own observation has 
abundantly confirmed that statement. 

From all of this I conclude that whereas there are now 
more than 2,000 children in the ungraded classes, and there 
are ungraded classes in less than one-fourth of the schools 
of the city, if they all had classes they would thus get 
8,000 children on the present basis of selection, but the 
present basis of selection gets certainly not more than half 
of the defectives. Therefore, we have a right to double 
that again, which would give us more than our 15,000. 

If, as said above, the proportion does not quite hold in 
some schools, this would be more than made up by the 
very high percentage of defectives in some of the other 
groups — the D classes and the E classes already referred 
to; and also the C classes, those made up of non-English- 
speaking children. "Non-English-speaking" very often 
means too mentally defective to learn the language in the 
usual time. Many a mentally defective child is excused 
and declared to be normal on the ground that he does not 
understand the language, the teacher forgetting that the 
normal child of almost any foreign nation learns our Ian- 



48 Training of Defective Children 

guage in an amazingly short time — barring the children 
that hear no English except in school. 

There are 1,464 children in the C classes, those who do 
not speak English. It is more than probable that a high 
percentage of these — at least a percentage much higher 
than that we give for the general group — are feeble-minded, 
and must have special instruction in the language because 
they are too defective to readily pick it up. In other words, 
this is only an illustration of what we find regularly, that 
a physical condition often obscures the mental defect. A 
child may be feeble-minded, but if he is also a foreigner 
we ascribe his defect to '"language" ; just as in adult life, 
when a man is feeble-minded, and as a result of that a 
drunkard, the alcoholism always obscures the feeble- 
mindedness. People say, "Yes, he is weak, but he would 
be all right if he did not drink." 

We have another group, although of no great signifi- 
cance from the point of view of numbers. There are in 
the city 490 crippled children in special schools. Undoubt- 
edly a high percentage of these are mentally defective. 
Also many feeble-minded children who are crippled, blind, 
or deaf, have been shut out of the schools. The actual num- 
ber of all these should be ascertained. It is only logical to 
conclude that of the mentally defective children a large 
percentage become crippled because of their lack of suffi- 
cient intelligence to avoid ordinary dangers. This, indeed, 
is one of the phrases used by Tredgold to define feeble- 
mindedness. 



The Solution of the Problem 



CHAPTER VIII 
THE SOLUTION OF THE PROBLEM 

IT must be recognized that children who are mentally 
defective can never earn a living except under the most 
favorable conditions, and such conditions certainly do not 
exist in our large cities, especially New York. Therefore, 
this army of 15,000 children is bound to be more or less a 
burden upon society. 

Again, careful studies have shown that this condition of 
mental defect is hereditary in somewhere from 65 per cent, 
to 90 per cent, of the cases. The studies of the children at 
the Vineland Training School show 65 per cent, with 
marked feeble-minded ancestry. Tredgold of England and 
the Royal Commission accept from 80 per cent, to 90 per 
cent, as due to a "morbid heredity." 

Applying this to our problem, then, we find that from 
10,000 to 12,000 or 13,000 of these children will, when 
they grow up and marry, produce children defective like 
themselves. It has further been shown that they produce 
children in large numbers, increasing at twice the rate of 
the general population. 

Again we see the enormous size of the problem. 

IMPORTANCE OF DETERMINING FEEBLE-MINDEDNESS 

The foregoing facts, briefly stated for the purposes of 
this report, would seem to lead logically to the following 
broad policy. Feeble-mindedness is the important and fun- 
damental fact, with which we are concerned. It is there- 
fore the first thing to be determined and made the basis for 

51 



52 Training of Defective Children 

all other procedure. Provision for crippled children is 
proper, but if the crippled child is also feeble-minded, then 
it is primarily his feeble-mindedness that should determine 
his treatment, and not the fact that he is a cripple. That 
he is more likely to be feeble-minded than is the normal 
boy follows from the fact that feeble-minded children are, 
because of their mental defect, more incapable of avoiding 
ordinary dangers than are the normal children, and conse- 
quently they meet with accidents which the normal children 
escape. Therefore there is a greater presumption of men- 
tal defect in the case of cripples. The same argument holds 
for all other groups that require special treatment. 

Classes for children who require a little special help to 
bring them up to grade or to normal standards, or to help 
them over some temporary difficulty, are among the wisest 
and most useful expedients in our public school policy. In 
these classes, in the very nature of the case, there is immi- 
nent danger of including defectives, unless all slow and 
backward children are examined by experts and the mental 
defectives carefully selected. As has been shown, the E 
classes contain a very high percentage of mental defectives. 
In the E classes actually examined, we found one-third of 
the pupils defective. We have not taken this ratio as a 
basis for our estimate, but have been exceedingly conser- 
vative and allowed it to be only lo per cent. However, 
it is by no means impossible that it might be as high as 33 
per cent., for, as said above, there is every probability that 
a very large percentage of defectives would get into these 
classes. Of the classes for coaching children so that they 
can get their working papers (called D classes in New 
York) one might almost say that nearly all the children 
must be mental defectives. The child who is 14 years old 
and cannot pass an examination in fourth grade work is 
almost surely feeble-minded. It consequently results that 
these "working paper classes," as they are called, are in 
fact merely a device for cramming these children with 
mechanical or rote work so that they can somehow, by 



The Solution of the Problem 53 

hook or crook, pass the examinations for working certifi- 
cates. It is not education; it is not making them any- 
more efficient; it is simply evading the law. 

TWO POSSIBLE BUT NOT APPLICABLE SOLUTIONS TO THE 
PROBLEM OF WHAT TO DO WITH DEFECTIVES 

In view of these facts, what shall be done with the feeble- 
minded child? Two solutions have been proposed for this 
problem. One is permanent segregation so that they could 
never beco-me parents; and the other, surgical sterilization. 
In the present condition of society neither of these solu- 
tions is applicable to any considerable proportion of these 
15,000 children. They cannot be placed in institutions or 
in colonies, for the reason that their parents will not con- 
sent. They cannot be sterilized for the same reason. The 
great majority must live their lives in the environment in 
which they are born. A great majority of them will be- 
come parents, and the problem will become increasingly 
larger for us until such time as we are driven to take drastic 
measures of one form or another. 



FURTHER DATA AND MORE KNOWLEDGE NEEDED FOR THE 
SOLUTION OF THE PROBLEM 

Meanwhile, what can be done? First of all, a body of 
undisputed facts bearing on the problem should be col- 
lected. For example, I have asserted my belief that there 
are 15,000 mentally deficient children in the schools of 
New York. I have backed up that opinion by certain facts 
and arguments which make it imperative that the truth be 
ascertained. It is not enough to rest upon the opinion of 
some one else that such a number is preposterous. The true 
number may be less ; it may be more. But something ap- 
proaching the exact figure should be obtained. 

Actual data should be accumulated as to what becomes 
of these children after they have left the ungraded classes. 



54 Training of Defective Children 

of the children in E classes, the C classes, and all others 
who show in their school work that they are not perfectly 
normal, to the end that we may know what effect our 
methods are having upon these children, and to what extent 
we have wisely judged them and treated them. 

We need a great deal more knowledge concerning the 
effect of the methods of sterilization. Until we have it we 
cannot speak with assurance when it comes to the question, 
"Shall this person be sterilized?" 

With a body of knowledge behind us, it will not be 
difficult to take action looking toward the solution of the 
problem, not only for securing efficient and far-reaching 
laws for the sterilization of the unfit in a much more helpful 
way than any of the laws now in force, but also for show- 
ing parents that segregation in institutions is the wisest 
thing that can be done for their children, unless they are 
willing to have them sterilized, if that shall have proved a 
wise procedure. 

In our attempt to estimate the probable size of this prob- 
lem, we should not forget that the figures so far produced 
relate to children actually in the public schools, and that, 
besides these, there are many more children who are defi- 
cient. For example, there are large numbers of children 
not in the public schools. The investigator has been told 
frequently that, when children do not get along in the 
public schools, they are taken out and sent to other schools. 
If this is true, it may be that the percentage of defective 
children in these other schools would be considerably 
larger than that which we have assumed for the public 
schools; at any rate, as high a percentage would hold. In 
the nature of the case, one would expect that the percentage 
of defectives in these schools would be high. This has 
been corroborated by observation in at least one such 
school. 



The Solution of the Problem 55 

INSTITUTIONS OR COLONIES FOR THE SEGREGATION OF 
DEFECTIVES 

Having accumulated the facts and acquired sufficient 
knowledge of the problem, we should next work toward 
institutions or colonies for the segregation of these chil- 
dren. Whether parents will allow their children to go 
to an institution is largely a question of two factors : first, 
the distance of that institution from the child's home, in- 
volving the possibility of occasional visits; and, second, 
the character of the institution where the child is to be 
placed. 

The City of New York has an institution for the feeble- 
minded at Randall's Island. As to the character of that 
institution, I am not expressing an opinion : but, whatever 
be its real character and worth, it is unfortunately true that 
in the popular mind its reputation is not good. Whether 
their opinions are well founded or not, the fact remains that 
parents are opposed to sending their children to Randall's 
Island. They tell the most disquieting stories of the treat- 
ment that their children have received. This same attitude 
of the parents was also found by Dr. Anna Moore in her 
study of "The Feeble-minded in New York." ^ 

One of the two possible solutions of the problem, What 
shall be done with the mentally defective child in New 
York? is segregation and colonization. It is, therefore, 
most unfortunate that the one institution which the city 
supports for that purpose should have such a reputation as 
to make this solution difficult and often impossible. It is 
possible to have colonies and institutions so attractive that 
parents are eager to have their children placed there. This 
has been demonstrated in many places the country over.^ 
Until we come to the point where we decide to take these 

' " The Feeble Minded in New York," a report prepared for the Pub- 
lic Education Association. Published by The State Charities Aid 
Association, New York, June, iqii. 

^ E. g., Waverley, Mass. ; Faribault, Minn. ; Polk, Pa. 



56 Training of Defective Children 

children forcibly away from their parents, whether they are 
willing or not, everything depends upon winning the par- 
ents' consent; and this can be done if the institutions are 
conducted in the right way, and if entrance to them has been 
made simple and pleasant. Children may be made happy 
and as useful as their limitations will permit. Wherever 
the children become trainable to such an extent that they 
are earning something, it might even pay the State or the 
city to make some return to the parents, if their plea should 
be that they want to take the children home because of 
what they can earn for them. It would be cheaper for 
society to pay the parents a certain amount for the work 
of the child, and have absolute control of the child, than 
to send it home, and out into the world where later it would 
produce more children of the same kind, or become a 
criminal. 

TRAINING FOR CITIZENSHIP 

Finally, all who cannot be thus taken care of, in such 
a way as to provide against the reproduction of the same 
type of children, must be made as good citizens as possible. 

How can we make them as good citizens as possible ? 

It is well known that a happy person is a better citizen 
than an unhappy one. It is, therefore, perfectly logical 
to maintain that, if we can make these children happy, we 
are taking the first step toward securing the best citizen- 
ship that we can get from them. 

Secondly, people are more likely to be happy when they 
have some occupation, something that they can do with 
some satisfaction to themselves. Therefore, if we can 
train these children so that they have some little skill, even 
though in only one activity, and not sufficient to enable 
them to earn a living, they have an occupation; this will 
make them happy and tend to keep them out of mischief 
and to make them as little a burden upon society as pos- 
sible. It would appear, therefore, that it is necessary for 



The Solution of the Problem 57 

society to see to it that these defective children are trained 
to be happy and as useful as they can be made. 



WHY THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM MUST CONTINUE TO 
DEAL WITH THE PROBLEM 

The next question is, Who shall do it, and how shall it be 
done? This question is fundamental, and must be satis- 
factorily answered. 

If seems clear that these children are not proper candi- 
dates for such education as the public school is now able 
to give, and, to that extent, do not belong in the system. 
But the fact still remains that they must be cared for. To 
the extent that society understands the situation, it will 
certainly demand that these children be cared for and 
trained. Whether society will place the burden upon the 
public school system, or whether it will establish another 
agency for doing this work, remains to be seen. If the 
latter plan is adopted, then, of course, the public school sys- 
tem is relieved, and the next step would be the establish- 
ment of some tribunal which would decide all doubtful 
cases. But even if the public continues to say that the 
educational system is nearer to this problem than any 
organization that can be brought into use, it does not neces- 
sarily follow that the educational system, as it now is, is 
prepared for these children or must take them in and treat 
them as it does other children. Rather it follows that the 
educational department must enlarge its scope and make 
special provision for such children. 

There are in New York three existent organizations that 
might take charge of this matter: the schools, the courts, 
and the charities department. If none of these is con- 
sidered adequate, we must create a new organization, whose 
sole business it shall be to care for all mentally defective 
persons. In the opinion of the writer, the data so far 
available seem clearly to indicate that the public school is the 



58 Training of Defective Children 

most promising agency for this work. In t^e first place, 
98 per cent, of all children are normal and go to school. 
If any other agency is to take charge of the other 2 per 
cent., there must inevitably be some controversy between 
the two agencies. Borderline cases will always be a source 
of annoyance and trouble. If a mistake is made and they 
are sent to school when they should be sent to the agency 
for defectives, that is serious. On the other hand, if they 
are normal and are sent to the agency for defectives, that 
is perhaps even more serious. If the school authorities 
have the whole problem, then all children go to school and 
the school department decides into which group the children 
shall be placed. The school people are, or easily become, 
the most expert in deciding who is capable of taking the 
regular instruction and who requires the special form of 
training needed by the defective ; and the school people can 
also be trusted to arrange to send those children who are 
unable to profit by school instruction to institutions for 
defectives where they can be permanently segregated and 
properly cared for. 

There seems to be no logical reason why the courts 
should be encumbered with this problem. In ordinary af- 
fairs, only a small number of the defectives would naturally 
come before them. To provide the courts with the neces- 
sary machinery to care for defectives would be to duplicate 
what is already provided in whatever other agency takes 
charge of the great mass of defectives. If the school takes 
charge of them and is thoroughly equipped in the way out- 
lined, then its records would be available for all court cases. 
The school authorities should have a complete record of 
any child that comes before the Juvenile Court. If that 
record shows that the child is defective, then the child 
should be referred back to the school for care and treatment. 
If the record shows the child not defective, then he is 
responsible and a legitimate case for court procedure. 

As for the Charities Department, that is out of the ques- 
tion. The problem we are considering has nothing to do 



The Solution of the Problem 59 

with charity, and should not be confused by association 
with it. 

It is entirely likely that, especially in New York City, a 
special commission on the defective would smooth out many 
difficult places and go a long way toward solving many of 
the problems of dealing with the feeble-minded child. Be- 
cause of long established custom, many children come be- 
fore the Charities Department first, others get into the 
Juvenile Court, and others into school. It would probably 
be easier for the various agencies to turn these children 
over at once to a Commission on Defectives, than it would 
to decide to which of the other agencies to send them. 
Again there will inevitably come up the question of re- 
moving these children from their families to institutions. 
A high commission with authority could act on this matter 
much more impartially than the school could do. There is 
also the question of sterilization, which a number of states 
now permit, and which could be put into the hands of this 
commission, to act as their good judgment determined. 
There are those who, in spite of all arguments, still insist 
that the care and treatment of defective children is not a 
school matter: that these children, being mentally defec- 
tive, should be taken out of the schools and segregated in 
colonies. Theoretically, I believe these people are exactly 
right. At best, the mental defectives are going to be, 
throughout their lives, misfits in society, barely eking out 
an existence, barely self-supporting in a very small per- 
centage of the cases, and dependants in all the rest. 

EXTENSION AND EXPANSION OF THE SCHOOL SYSTEM OF 
DEALING WITH DEFECTIVES 

An elaborate expansion and an expensive extension of 
the school plant are required to care for them as we are 
proposing. It is quite possible that figures will show that 
our proposal is much more expensive than the proposal to 
care for the mentallv defective children in colonies. Fur- 



6o Traiiiiiic] of Dcfccfkr Children 

therniore. it is more tlian possible that our best efforts in 
training- tliem in speeial classes or special schools accom- 
plish so little for their training that it is not worth while. 
But all these facts and figures are hardly Avorth compiling 
until society is ready to face the problem without tlinching 
and to take such action as is involved in removing from 
his home and forcibly separating from his parents every 
feeble-minded child. That seetns to the writer to be the 
insurmountable ditliculty at the present time. Until we 
come to the point where we decide it is best to use drastic 
measures, we must provide for these children in some other 
way. The easiest way seems to be the method outlined. 
This should not prevent us from keeping — indeed, it should 
compel us to keep — most careful statistics as to the cost 
and tlie results of the care of these children through the 
agency of the public school. After a few years we should 
thus have definite data on our problem.' If it can be 
shown that the cost is vastly greater than it w^ould be even 
to provide colonies for this enormous number of defectives, 
then a strong argument against colonization is silenced. 



A SEPARATE SCHOOL SYSTEM FOR DEFECTIVE CHILDREN 

The next question is: What must the educational de- 
partment do in order to provide for these children ? 

The attempt to make citizens of this class of children by 
the same method that is used with normal children has been 
tried, and has failed. We have always had such children 
in our schools, and they have always failed to be benefited 
by the regular school treatment. Under the compulsory 
education law. w-e are getting more of them in our schools, 
and have finally been driven to placing them in these un- 
graded classes. Having learned something of the lesson 
that experience has taught us. we have consented to devote 
nearly half their time to manual training, and we have 
seen beneficial results. 



The Solution of the IWoblem 6i 

The next step is to recognize what has been accepted by 
nearly all the people who have studied this problem care- 
fully and have done most toward its solution, viz. : that 
book work is practically useless for these children, and that 
onr work with them, instead of beinj^ half manual, should 
1;': all manual and vocational. Careful psychological studies 
of the type of minrl possessed by these defectives show 
iliat they are incapable of dealing with abstractions, and 
tliat everything is abstract with them that does not con- 

rn those things that enter into their daily life and ex- 
^ rience. 

They should, therefore, be placed under a distinct sys- 
t<:m which is not bound by the rules and regulations of the 
r :;.;ular schools, 'ihe system should be s^j arranged that 
lijcre would be a large amount of freedom and opjx^rlunity 
to train each child in the way in which he is found to be 
1/ t capable of development. There need be no deej.* gulf 

' .veen this system and the other. It should always Ijc 

y for a child who has by some misunderstanding been 
placed in this group, but who shows ability, to get back 
into the normal grade at any time; just as, at the other 
end of the scale, it should be easy to send all children, whose 
jjarents will permit it, to the colonies or institutions where 
they are made happy and useful for life. 

Such a plan might well occupy the entire time and atten- 
tion of a superintendent of .schools for mental defectives; 
and, recognizing as it dr^es the fun^lamental facts and con- 
ditions of the problem, it might at the same time embody 
the most important suggestions that we have recorded as 
coming from the experience of principals and teachers. 

Separate schools would thus be established for these chil- 
dren, each one under a princij^al who would be an exjx;rt 
in this work, who could devote his entire time to the prol>- 
lem, and give the adequate supervision which is so seriously 
needed. In such schools grading would be possible. The 
lowest grade cases, for whom little can be done, could be 
put in one group, and the teacher in charge would only be 



62 Training of Defective Children 

required to keep them happy, train them in simple habits, 
and do for them what their condition allows. Those who 
are a little higher could be put together in another class, 
and so on up to the highest class, which might well be a 
class of border-line cases. Of these, some might get back 
into the grades. 

The question of supervision would thus be largely solved; 
and the solution of the question of trained teachers would 
be greatly helped, since it would be possible to obtain at 
once as principals of these schools persons who are effi- 
cient and well trained, and it would also be possible to 
obtain a few teachers who are equally well trained and 
capable of leading the work. The other teachers, by ob- 
servation of their more experienced associates, would learn 
a large part of the methods that they need. Every effort 
should be made, however, to secure opportunities for these 
teachers to study large groups of defective children as they 
are found in institutions. The new Letchworth Village 
should become a training school for these teachers, and 
other institutions that may be established in the vicinity of 
New York should be planned with the same thing in view. 
These teachers could also be paid an ample salary, enough 
at the start to induce them to take up this work, with an 
ample increase to those who prove effective, who show by 
their zeal, enthusiasm, and willingness to study the problem, 
that they are of the right kind. 

At least two states (New Jersey and Michigan) are pro- 
posing a salary scale such as the following : The teacher of 
the ungraded class who comes properly qualified, to receive 
a bonus of $ioo the first year, $200 the second, $300 the 
third, and so on, until it becomes $500— this in addition to 
the regular salary of the grade teacher. To those unfa- 
miliar with the work this may seem a large bonus. Few 
people realize the special ability, skill, and training required. 
These teachers have to be specialists, and, therefore, ex- 
perts. Again, few realize the nerve-racking work, the dis- 
couragements, difficulties, and even dangers the teachers 



The Solution of the Problem 63 

have to face. An adequate salary is the least we can do for 
them. 

Not only could the schools established on this independ- 
ent and free basis devote themselves, so far as necessary, to 
manual work and vocational training, but this work could 
be so systematized as to have high educational value — a 
thing which the present manual work in the ungraded 
classes, as a rule, does not have, because of lack of grading 
and systematic development. They would also be able to 
control the Cj[uestion of material and provide what was 
needed for their work. 

Ultimately these schools would develop into home 
schools, keeping the children as many hours as possible, 
many of them even over night. And, finally, they should 
develop into city institutions for defectives, thus largely 
solving the problem. 

THE COST OF A SEPARATE SYSTEM AND SPECIAL SCHOOLS 

I shall not in this volume work out the details of the sys- 
tem. It can be seen in its perfection at the Institution for 
Feeble-minded in Waverley, Massachusetts, where children 
of lower grade than any usually found in the ungraded 
classes are trained to wonderful skill in doing things, and 
toward earning a living. 

At this point the question of expense is forced upon us. 
There is only one answer to the question of cost. What- 
ever it costs, it must be done. This problem is as funda- 
mental to our social well-being as our courts, our sewerage 
system, or quarantine service. In addition to what it will 
do for these children themselves and for society as a whole, 
we must not forget the value of the work to the children in 
the normal grades. The regular classes are relieved of the 
burden of these defective children, the teachers are able to 
do vastly better work, and the children receive the benefit. 
But more than that. When we consider this problem, as 
we have done, from the social standpoint, and realize what 



64 Training of Defective Children 

it may mean to have these children properly cared for and 
trained, we see that we can ill afford not to expend large 
sums for the sake of saving them from becoming public nui- 
sances. Therefore, the question of expense must not enter 
into the consideration. We have these children. They can 
only be dealt with in one way, and we must do it, whatever 
the expense. We must appropriate large sums of money to 
care for them, in order to save larger expense in caring for 
them later in almshouses and prisons, to say nothing of 
their numerous progeny. 

Every State Institution for the feeble-minded should con- 
duct a training school for teachers. If these institutions 
have not the material facilities for doing this, the State 
should make proper provision therefor. If they have not 
the teachers or experts in pedagogy to attend to this, con- 
nection should be made with the State University, whereby 
its educational department should cooperate in this matter. 
Failing departments of education in the State University, 
some of the State Normal Schools could very well make 
this connection and help the State to solve its problem in 
this way. 

It is becoming every day more evident that the special 
school, separate and independent from the regular school, 
is the wisest solution of this matter. Every accepted prin- 
ciple in school management and in school hygiene points to 
the necessity for a complete separation of the normal and 
the defective. Daily more cities are trying the separate 
school plan and always with eminent success. Only those 
who fail to grasp the problem in all its phases still maintain 
the advantage of the class or the group of classes in schools 
for normal children. 



DIFFICULTIES TO OVERCOME IN ESTABLISHING SPECIAL 

SCHOOLS 

There are, it is true, some difficulties to overcome in the 
establishment of special schools, in place of the present un- 



The Solution of the Problem 65 

graded classes. But the advantages are so great that meth- 
ods of overcoming the difficulties should be found. In 
many places, where the regular schools are now so close to- 
gether, it would be easy to fill a new school with these men- 
tally defective pupils, without involving any long journeys 
for any of them. In other places that would be more diffi- 
cult, and it might involve the transportation of some of 
them, as the cripples are now conveyed. This would of 
itself be quite a problem, because the defective children are 
more difficult to handle en route than are the cripples. Nev- 
ertheless, that would not be an insurmountable difficulty. 

The difficulty in transporting defective children as com- 
pared with cripples is, first, that they are able to move about 
more and make more disturbance in any conveyance in 
which they are placed; second, they are mischievous, and 
sometimes because of previous bad treatment, even mali- 
cious; and third, and most serious of all, there are very 
grave sexual dangers either when the opposite sexes are 
together, or even between children of the same sex. This 
means that they would have to be transported under very 
careful supervision, but as said above, this difficulty is by 
no means insurmountable and in many cases it would pay 
well to transport them, even at the added expense of super- 
visors to care for them en route. 

It is sometimes thought that it would be more difficult 
to get parents to allow their child to attend these 
schools than to allow him to go into a special class while 
he attends the same school that he has always been attend- 
ing. This again, is a fictitious argument of those who fail 
to grasp the true nature of the defective child and the pos- 
sibilities of the special school. People make no objection 
to sending their children to manual training schools, voca- 
tional schools, or trade schools, even though in the minds 
of many people it is a distinct reflection on the child's abil- 
ity to send him anywhere except to a classical school. 
Make these special schools trade schools, occupational 
schools, schools where something is done and accomplished 



66 Training of Defective Children 

by the child, and parents will be as willing to have their 
children placed in them as they now are to place them in 
vocational or trade schools. 

Parents can easily be convinced of the many advantages 
of separate schools. These advantages have been pointed 
out by various principals. In such schools the defective 
children are away from the normal children and escape the 
bullying and teasing to which they are liable. To obviate 
this under the present regime, the ungraded classes are now 
called and dismissed at different times from the regular 
school. If the term "ungraded class" has come to have 
such a significance that parents or children are apt to regard 
it as synonymous with "crazy class" or something equally 
unpleasant, an entirely different name could be chosen. 
Moreover, the character of the school, because of the work 
and the trained principals and teachers, would soon free it 
from any odium that might otherwise attach to it. The 
success that many of the children would have in going to 
work after they left school would soon make it appeal to 
the parents. 

The question of what children should be sent to these 
schools is one of the most difficult of all. The present 
method in New York City, as has been pointed out by the 
inspector of ungraded classes and the superintendents of 
schools, is entirely inadequate. One examiner cannot at- 
tend to so much work. There should be several assistants ; 
and, when the full size of the problem is recognized, it will 
be understood that there should be a considerable number 
of them. Indeed, it is entirely probable that, under ideal 
conditions, we should examine by the Binet scale, or any 
that may prove more efficient, every child that enters school, 
and, from time to time, all children who are not doing their 
regular work understandingly. 

Still another thing that will need to be seriously studied, 
and which is now ignored, is the fact that many children do 
not show their defects until they are about nine or ten years 
old. The consequence of this is that the children often get 



The Solution of the Problem 67 

into the grammar school before showing any serious defect. 
Then they begin to slow down in their development, and 
before they get through the grammar school they are de- 
cidedly deficient. Under the present system these children 
are often not discovered at all because some principals un- 
derstand that no child is to be recommended for the un- 
graded class who has progressed beyond the primary school. 
The result is that there are many children in the seventh 
and eighth grades who are repeaters for two or three years, 
and are really mentally defective (although they would 
generally be of high grade — morons). 

DEFECTIVE CHILDREN AS WAGE-EARNERS 

In regard to working papers, it probably would not be 
difficult to have the law so modified that children who are 
recognized as belonging to this type should have (quali- 
fied) working papers, which would enable them to take such 
place as they could without being required to come up to 
the standard now required of normal children. 

The whole question of the defective child going to work 
is one which at first sight seems to have many difficulties. 
Probably the wise thing to do is simply to exempt entirely 
from any law, those who are feeble-minded. This will not 
subject them to the evils of long hours and sweat-shop prac- 
tices, because the feeble-minded child cannot be sweated. 
It is but rarely that he can be employed in the regular way 
at all. He is unable to earn enough to make him a profit- 
able employee. The importance of the point raised is that 
in many cases these children are no longer getting anything 
profitable in school ; and in some cases they can do work at 
home for their mothers or fathers who may have some lit- 
tle business of their own where they can employ the child. 
In a few cases, some other employer may, for one reason 
or another, be induced to take these children on and give 
them a little something in the way of wages which contri- 
butes to the family support, but most of all it gives the child 



68 Training of Defective Children 

pleasant employment and makes him happy. We have 
found many principals and teachers of these classes who 
have asserted that, were it not for the child labor law, they 
could provide for certain children much better than can be 
done in school. It is to provide for just such as these that 
the above proposition is made. Under the present condi- 
tion these children, as has been said, are either in school 
doing nothing profitable, or, still worse, are on the street. 
So far as the welfare of the child and the community is 
concerned, nothing is gained by making him amenable to 
the present law, but rather very much is lost. 

In connection with the labor of these children, comes up 
another problem of more or less serious proportions. It is 
quite possible that we may find in course of our attempts 
at industrial training, that there are certain kinds of piece 
work that these children can be trained to do; something 
that is simple and uniform and does not require a great 
amount of judgment or intelligence. Such things should 
be tried out and the children trained along these lines. 
Then they become wage-earners in this direction. Even 
if they are in school, they may do this work; they would 
then be earning something and, which is much more im- 
portant, would be happy in doing something. 

It is suggested that the labor unions would object to this 
kind of work with the feeble-minded children. One can- 
not refrain from expressing the conviction that any labor 
union that considers it necessary to be afraid of the com- 
petition of the feeble-minded is deserving of the ridicule 
that it would likely receive. 



Recommendations 



CHAPTER IX 
RECOMMENDATIONS 

IN view of the importance of this problem and the future 
welfare of our people, I should recommend a radical 
enlargement and extension of the work of the ungraded 
classes: 

I. By the appointment of a Superintendent of Schools 
and Classes for Defectives. 

The name of this officer is immaterial. The term "super- 
intendent" here used is intended to convey the idea of a 
person in complete authority, an expert who organizes and 
administers a system of education and training for these 
children just as our best superintendents of schools admin- 
ister the schools for normal children under their care. In- 
deed a large city like New York should select some success- 
ful superintendent from a smaller city, and put him in 
charge of this work. 

Because a two-headed system is almost always unsatis- 
factory he should be in a general way subordinate to the 
superintendent of schools. That he may be unhampered in 
his work by the necessity of justifying his every action to 
any committee or individual, experience will have to deter- 
mine largely what responsibilities and authorities shall be 
given to this individual. There is nothing to go by at pres- 
ent, since no city and no country in the world has yet taken 
a large view of this problem and dealt with it accordingly. 
Such a person, call him what you will, — superintendent, su- 
pervisor, director, inspector or manager, — should have 
probably the following powers : 

71 



^2 Training of Defective Children 

a. Complete authority to decide what children belong 
in the classes for defectives. 

b. Authority to provide accommodation for these 
classes — buildings and rooms. 

c. The selection, examining and appointment of 
teachers. 

d. The establishing of the curriculum or course of 
training to be followed. 

2. By greatly increasing the appropriations for the 
work in accordance with the needs, as determined by those 
in charge of the problem. 

3. By the appointment at once of at least four asso- 
ciate inspectors of ungraded classes. 

This number is based upon an estimate of the number 
of associate inspectors believed to be needed at the time this 
report is made. Experience may prove that more are 
needed, and as the number of schools and classes increases 
more certainly will be required. The same is true of the 
next recommendation. 

4. By the appointment at once of five more examiners 
(psychologists and physicians), whose duty it should be to 
determine what children shall be placed in these classes. 
Additional examiners should be appointed as needed. All 
repeaters and over-age pupils, together with all pupils now 
in any of the special classes C, D, E, and ungraded, should 
be tested by the Binet-Simon scale in the hands of experts 
trained in its use (as is done in Rochester, New York; 
Cleveland, Ohio; and other places, with signal benefit to 
the school system). 

5. By the establishment as fast as possible of special 
schools to take as many as possible of these ungraded 
classes out of the regular schools, to the end that the chil- 



Recommendations 73 

dren may be more adequately directed, supervised, graded, 
and instructed in appropriate manual training and voca- 
tional work. 

6. By the appointment of a number of special assistants 
— six or eight — whose business it should be to follow up 
the history of defective children after they have passed 
through the schools. After a few years such histories 
would throw much-needed light on the value of the meth- 
ods used, and would point the way to further steps toward 
protecting society from the future incubus of these irre- 
sponsible persons. 

7. It is certainly the duty of the Department of Educa- 
tion to see that the present method of administering sup- 
plies is revised, so that the ungraded classes shall not be 
hampered in their work by the difficulty of obtaining the 
material and equipment which they need. (Many of the 
teachers at present spend practically all their bonus in 
purchasing supplies which should be furnished by the city.) 

8. A substantial increase in the bonus paid to teachers 
of these classes (or schools) should be provided; this bonus 
should be graded, increasing year by year up to a certain 
limit; teachers should qualify for this increase annually, 
and only those who show proficiency and growth should be 
eligible to the advance. 



'fe' 



9. Suitable steps should be taken as rapidly as possible 
to provide training classes for teachers of defectives. In 
addition to the class work and theoretical instruction, teach- 
ers in training should have access to model schools. These 
could perhaps be secured at Letchworth Village, or at other 
institutions for the feeble-minded. It is important that 
such model schools for the teachers in training should be in 
institutions for the feeble-minded. Only in such schools 
do the teachers see that the children are distinctly feeble- 
minded. If they see only the children in the ungraded 



74 Training of Defective Children 

classes or special schools, they tend more or less to retain 
the impression that the children are really normal, or will 
yet prove normal; and this impression (or conviction) is a 
serious handicap to their work. 

10. The child labor law should be so modified as not to 
apply in its present form to children who have been de- 
clared mentally defective. These children should be al- 
lowed to go to work as soon as those in charge of the 
schools or classes conclude that it is more profitable for 
them to be under the direction of their parents or in regu- 
lar work than in the schools. However, this should apply 
only to such cases as cannot be placed in an institution or 
colony for the feeble-minded. 

11. That appropriate domestic, industrial and manual 
training be made the principal subjects in all these classes ; 
such work in reading, writing, and numbers as is taught 
should be given as far as possible, in connection with the 
hand work. 

CONCLUSION 

I find after careful investigation of practically all the un- 
graded classes in New York City that, while a great work 
is being done, a work which cannot and must not be stopped 
because of its value to the children who are in the regular 
grades, yet, for lack of funds, and for lack of adequate help 
to carry out the plan, the work is very far from being what , 
it should be. Many children are not getting what they 
might get because of lack of equipment and material in the 
classroom. Many children are not in the classes who ought 
to be in them, because they cannot be passed upon and 
transferred to these classes, owing to the lack of help to 
make the examination. Many defective children are still 
in the grades unrecognized. The entire treatment of de- 
fective children is very inadequate, owing to the failure to 
recognize the high-grade type of mental defective. Much 



Recommendations 75 

time is wasted in teaching children reading, writing, and. 
counting who will never be able to make any use of them. 
The whole movement is handicapped for lack of trained 
teachers; and this is largely because of lack of sufficient 
financial inducement to good teachers to go into the work. 

In this report I have only touched the most important 
aspects of the problem. It is useless to go into details until 
these are considered. In my recommendations I have men- 
tioned only the most important items. Many minor ones 
will follow inevitably if these larger and most important 
matters receive due consideration and lead to proper action. 

Pending the adoption of the larger and better system rec- 
ommended herein, it is possible to make many improve- 
ments in the present classes in accordance with the sugges- 
tions given above, and this should be done at once. 

I cannot conclude this revision of the report for a larger 
audience without an appeal to all thinking citizens and all 
educators to study seriously this problem of the defective. 
Approximately 2 per cent, of our school population are so 
defective mentally that they will never be able to live an 
independent existence in the world, and a vastly larger num- 
ber are so dull and slow in their school work that the or- 
dinary classroom routine is unprofitable for them. It is 
clear that such a condition is no trivial matter. It is worthy 
of the attention of the largest minds and deserves the most 
careful study. The education of the more than 700,000 
normal children in New York City is being made more ex- 
pensive and less efficient by the presence among them of 
the 15,000 defectives, while the defectives themselves, in- 
stead of being usefully trained and educated to the extent 
of their capacity, are being positively injured, and are al- 
lowed to leave school a distinct menace to society. 

Those cities that attack the problem in a large way and 
establish a complete and intelligent system of dealing with 
defective children will soon find that many other problems, 
both educational and social, are greatly reduced in serious- 
ness. 



Appendix 



APPENDIX 

Examination Questions Set for Candidates for the 
Position of Teacher of Ungraded Classes in New 
York City and for the Position of Assist- 
ant Inspector of Ungraded Classes 

The following are sample lists of questions set for the 
examination of teachers for ungraded classes. They are 
presented here not as models but as data for the study of 
the situation in New York City. 

The purpose of examinations is supposed to be to elim- 
inate the unfit and to ascertain those who have the necessary 
attainments for doing the work covered by the examination. 
Unless examination questions are so formulated that they 
accomplish, to some slight degree at least, this result they 
are, of course, useless. 

One who studies these questions carefully may be in doubt 
as to whether they are likely to accomplish the desired re- 
sult. Some of the questions call for information which does 
not exist ; some are based on a discarded psychology ; others 
call, not for general information, or statements that can be 
learned from textbooks, but instead that which is special 
and peculiar to some individual instructor. The question 
could be thus answered by pupils of that instructor but by 
no one else. A few others call for abilities not required to 
teach an ungraded class even under the widest interpreta- 
tion of "general culture." 

In view of the fact stated in the text, that there are now 
many teachers who are certified for the ungraded classes 
who are totally unprepared for their work, and on the other 

79 



8o Training of Defective Children 

hand a number of substitutes who have failed to pass the 
examination were found who were doing most excellent 
work, we can but raise the question whether a better system 
of examination would not produce better results. 

Department of Education, City of New York 

Examination for License to Teach Ungraded Classes 

April 15, 1909. 

Methods 

Time, Two hours. Candidate's No .... 

1. (a) Describe two kinds of speech defects to be found 

in ungraded class children. (6) 
'(b) Outline a series of exercises for the curative treat- 
ment of each kind. (10) 

2. Describe the form board, and the method of using it. 

3. Make a plan for a lesson the aim of which is to lead to 

the recognition of the figure 8. (12) 

4. Describe two exercises designed respectively to culti- 

vate motor control in respect of : (a) inhibition, 
and (b) co-ordination. Give reasons for the 
choice of exercises. (24) 

5. Show how story-telling may be successfully used for 

specific moral ends. (Specify stories and indi- 
cate methods.) (24) 

6. Give three illustrations of how to make "busy work" 

effective. Indicate clearly with respect to such 
work the duties of the teacher. (12) 

Examination for License as Teacher of Ungraded 
Classes, December, 1909. 

History and Principles of Education 
Time, Two hours. Candidate's No .... 

I. Enumerate, in separate classes, ten common causes of 
mental deficiencies. (5) 



License to Teach Ungraded Classes 8i 

2. In what ways does the nervous system of an eight-year- 

old child differ from that of a five-year-old? 
What dangers are incident to the state of ner- 
vous development of an eight-year-old child? 
How may the child be protected from these 
dangers? (8) 

3. Define memory. Describe tests for determining (a) 

type of memory; (b) impressibility of memory; 
(c) retentiveness of memory; (d) accuracy of 
memory. (10) 

4. (a) Explain the following terms: adenoids, hypertro- 

phied tonsils, malnutrition. (3) 
(b) What symptoms in the child should lead a teacher 
to suspect the presence of the conditions or de- 
fects named in (a) ? (6) 

5. What is the scope of the co-operation which must be 

established by the teacher outside of school if 
ungraded class children are to have every chance 
to improve? How is this to be attained? (8) 



Examination for License to Teach Ungraded Classes 

May, 1911. 

Principles 
Time, Two and one half hours. 

Candidate's No. . . . 

1. What are the characteristics of Mongolian idiocy? 

What is the present day theory of the cause of 
this type of mental deficiency? (10) 

2, Name the physiological functions the development of 

which throws light on the probable mental con- 
dition of a child. Show how this knowledge 
may be practically used by a teacher. (8) 



82 Training of Defective Children 

3. Name the types of memory. Illustrate how each type 

may be tested and how each may be trained. 
(8) 

4. Define the following : squint, puberty, eugenics, thyroid, 

dentition, chorea. (6) 

5. What are the Binet Tests? (8) 



Examination for License to Teach Ungraded Classes 

May, 191 i. 

Practical Tests 

Time, One hour. Candidate's No .... 

Sewing 

I. On the material provided illustrate: 

(a) Buttonhole stitch 

(b) Overhanding 

(c) Hemming (10) 



Examination for License to Teach Ungraded Classes 

May, 191 i. 

Practical Tests 

Time, One hour. Candidate's No.... 

Drawing 

1. Make as for the blackboard two series of drawings 

showing (a) the germination of beans or corn; 
(b) the development of buds of the horse- 
chestnut or pussy willow. (5) 

2. Make a working drawing of a color box having six 

4"x4"x2" compartments. Use ^" stock. Draw 
to ^ scale. (5) 



License to Teach Ungraded Classes 83 

April, 19 13. 

Principles 

Two and one half hours. 

1. What are the characteristics of Mongolian idiocy? 

What is the present day theory of the cause of 
this type of mental deficiency? 

2. Name the physiological functions the development of 

which throws light on the probable mental con- 
dition of a child. Show how this knowledge 
may be practically used by a teacher. 

3. Name the types of memory. Illustrate how each type 

may be tested and how each child may be 
trained. 

4. Define squint, puberty, eugenics, thyroid, dentition, 

chorea. 

5. What are the Binet Tests? 

Practical Tests 

One hour. 

1. Describe in detail a method of testing the power of 

imagination in defective pupils, stating the ma- 
terials used. Of what specific use to a teacher 
is such testing? 

2. Describe the form-board. Tell just how by the use of 

this board the mental ability of defectives may 
be determined. 

3. Indicate the relation between intuition and mental 

power. Illustrate. 

Sewing 

(a) Buttonhole stitch 

(b) Overhanding 

(c) Hemming 



84 Training of Defective Children 

Methods of Teaching 

Two hours. 

1. State in the order they should be taken — the types of 

work for the correction of stuttering. 

2. Outhne an example which presents 3 types of work 

given designed to promote neuro-muscular co- 
ordination, 

3. Describe kind of construction work that should be 

given to a choreic child. 

4. What is meant by objective method? How may it be 

properly used in teaching number ? Under what 
circumstances is it necessary in teaching number ? 
— illustrate. 

5. Suppose a child has difficulty in discriminating sounds 

(m) (n). Describe a way to help it. 

Principles of Education 

Time, 2^ hours. / 

1. Define the following: eugenics, sterilization, neurotic, 

amentia, apperception, neurosis, segregation, 
echolalia, verbal memory, paranoia. (10) 

2. Name 5 instincts — evidences of which may be seen in 

school children. What use should a teacher 
make of them? How? (10) 

3. "By occupation is not meant any kind of busy work or 

exercises that may be given to a child in order to 
keep him out of mischief or idleness, when 
seated at his desk. By occupation I mean a 
mode of activity on the part of the child which 
reproduces or runs parallel to some form of 
work carried on in social life." — John Dewey. 
What activities in good ungraded class practice repre- 
sent the occupation referred to in the above 
quotation? (10) 



License to Teach Ungraded Classes 85 

4. Classify the English consonant sounds. State clearly 

the bases of your classifications. (8) 

5. Describe the characteristic marks of cretinism, Mon- 

golianism, moral imbecility. (12) 



Examination for License to Teach Ungraded Classes 
April, 19 13. 

Time on drawing, i hour; on sewing, i^ hours. 
Candidate's No. . . . 

Drawing 

1. Illustrate as for the blackboard, one of the following: 

(a) May-pole Dance. 

(b) A Farm Scene. (5) 

2. Make working drawing of a color box i2"xS"x^". 

Material used is %" white wood. (5) 

Sewing 

1. On the material provided, illustrate: 

(a) Hemming. 

(b) Backstitching. (5) 

2. With the materials provided, make a basket, the bottom 

of which is to be three inches in diameter. (5) 

The following have been given at various times: 

Practical Tests 

1. Make a pencil sketch to illustrate one of the following: 

Little Tommy Tucker, Simple Simon, Old 
Mother Hubbard, The House that Jack Built. 

2. Imagine a table with a chair to the left and touching 

the table. The group is below the eye-level. 
Draw in outline the group as it would appear. 

3. Illustrate, as for blackboard work : 

(a) Even basting stitch. 

(b) Combination stitch. 



86 Training of Defective Children 

4. Join two pieces of material with a running seam, and 

finish edges with a hem j^" in depth. 

5. Practical test. 

Principles of Education 

1. (a) State five facial or cranial marks or signs indica- 

tive of defective mentality. 

(b) State two characteristic physical marks or signs of 

idiocy. 

(c) State two characteristic physical marks or signs of 

cretinism. 

2. Make a classification of mental defectives, indicating 

clearly the basis of the classification. 

3. What is instinct? What is attention? Explain how in- 

stinct may be used in cultivating attention. Il- 
lustrate. 

4. State the principles upon which a daily program for a 

defective class should be made. 

5. (a) What features of school environment may react on 

the child in an unfavorable way? 
(b) Show how hygienic conditions may be promoted 
in the classroom. 

Methods 

1. (a) In what respects may the senses of mental defec- 

tives be trained? 
(b) Describe briefly typical exercises designed to train 
each of the senses, respectively. 

2. Describe three exercises in physical training particularly 

suited to mental defectives, and indicate the 
value of each exercise. 

3. Give three illustrations of how to make "busy-work" 

effective. Indicate clearly with respect to such 
work the duties of the teacher. 

4. Show in detail the way in which "The Ugly Duckling," 

"The Three Bears," or some other story should 
be taught to a class of middle grade children. 



License to Teach Ungraded Classes 87 

Make a plan for a lesson on the study of germination 
of the bean, indicating the work of the teacher 
and the work of the pupils. 

(a) What is meant by muscular co-ordination? 

(b) • In what respects may muscular co-ordination be 

cultivated ? 

(c) Describe briefly four exercises designed to improve 

muscular co-ordination. 

(d) Indicate the sequence to be followed in these exer- 

cises. 

Principles of Education 

(a) Name the characteristic marks of the Mongolian 

type of mental defective. 

(b) Define moral defective. 

Explain in detail what is comprehended under the term 
"stigmata of degeneration." 

(a) Make a program of a day's work for a class of 

mental defectives in a public school. 

(b) State your reasons for your time divisions, se- 

quence of work. 

(c) State the principles according to which group work 

should be carried on. 
Define crisis of development and state, in detail, how 

this knowledge would influence your work. 
What is habit? Explain habit formation. 
Show how play should be used in the development of a 

mentally defective child. 

Practical Tests 
Drawing 
Make a working drawing of a marble board ii><" x 
2^'' X 5/s" having four openings for marbles 
iji" X i>4". Scale K'"- 
Make sketch as for blackboard to illustrate: "Red 
Riding Hood," or "The Sweet Pea Plant," or 
"The Horse Chestnut Twig." 



88 Training of Defective Children 

Basketry 

3. Make three blackboard illustrations to be used when 
teaching how to make a reed basket. 

Methods 

1. Discuss speech defect in its relation to mental defect. 

Describe typical exercises for the cultivation of 
distinct articulation ; of pure tone. 

2. Outline an exercise in physical training based on the 

principle of imitation. What value has imitative 
work? 

3. (a) Discuss formal sense training as to its scope: and 
(b) Show how the muscular sense should be trained. 

4. (a) Name five kinds of forms of manual training that 

you would use with a class of mentally defective 
children. 

(b) Arrange these in sequence, on the basis of the 

degree of motor control found in a given child. 

(c) Give reason for your answer to (b). 

5. How would you treat mind wandering; lack of initia- 

tive; obstructed will? 

6. How should a lesson in subtraction be conducted with 

mentally defective children? 

1. (a) Describe in detail a method of testing the power 

of imagination in defective pupils — stating ma- 
terials used, 
(b) Of what specific use to a teacher is such testing? 
(10) 

2. (a) Describe the form-board. 

(b) Tell just how by the use of this board the mental 
ability of defectives may be determined. (8) 

3. Indicate the relation between nutrition and mental 

power. Illustrate. (8) 

4. Describe the De Sanctis tests. (8) 



License to Teach Ungraded Classes 89 

5. Define the following: 
cretinism 
hysteria 
nystagmus 
strabismus 
moral imbecile 
tics (6) 

1. To develop the "number sense" the teacher must be- 

gin with the indefinite unit. Indicate in detail 
the proper procedure in this regard. (15) 

2. Outline as to material and as to method a course in 

formal sense training. (5) 

3. Indicate the right educational treatment for a child who 

is characterized as a motor dullard. 

4. Enumerate the various kinds of expressive work which 

should be found in ungraded classes and state 
the special use of each. Describe in detail a 
method of treating monotones — mentioning 
helpful devices. 

Drawing 

1. Make a blackboard drawing appropriate to Thanks- 

giving. ^ 

2. Make a working drawing of a key rack. 

3. Raffia basket — use lazy squaw stitch. 

4. Make a buttonhole. 

Examination for License as Assistant Inspector 
OF Ungraded Classes 

December 18, 1912. (a. m.) 

Methods of Teaching and of Class Management 

Time, Three hours. Candidate's No. . . . 

I. Outline a system of formal sense training; the outline 

should indicate the materials and the methods of 

presentation. (14) 



90 Training of Defective Children 

2. State explicitly the bases of human speech; show by 

diagram the action between these; indicate on 
the diagram the location of the disturbances 
which result in the more common pathologies of 
speech. Upon what principles must the teacher 
proceed to effect the cure of defective speech? 
Show the application of these principles in two 
types of speech defect. (24) 

3. Taking each of the following topics in turn, write a 

paragraph of about twenty lines regarding it, 
including principles, methods and suggestions : 

(a) Relation between motor dullness and mental effi- 

ciency. 

(b) Ways and means of developing in ungraded class 

children the power of inhibition. (16) 

4. Outline in accordance with the sequence to be observed 

in teaching, a series of exercises for motor train- 
ing to be given to a child whose neuro-muscular 
coordination is very poor. (14) 

5. Make a program of one day's work for an ungraded 

class of sixteen children which will indicate what 
you hold to be the proper distribution of time 
and will also indicate the particular occupation 
of each child at any given time. (20) 

6. Describe what you regard as a good method of teach- 

ing reading to ungraded class children. Give 
one reason for each feature of the method de- 
scribed. (12) 

Examination for License as Assistant Inspector 
OF Ungraded Classes 

Psychology 
Time, Three hours. 

I. Describe three series of tests of intelligence (8) and 
state the specific merit claimed for each series 
and the objections to each. (8) 



License to Teach Ungraded Classes 91 

State explicitly three different classifications of feeble- 
minded individuals. What is the principle of 
classification in each case? What advantages 
for the teacher has each classification which you 
have presented? (24) 

Taking each of three of the following topics in turn, 
condense into a paragraph of about ten to fifteen 
lines the chief points that should be made re- 
garding it. (14) 

(a) Ductless glands. 

(b) Mendelism. 

(c) Form board. 

(d) Montessori. 

Make a topical outline of an article on a scheme for 
the cure of mentally defective persons. The out- 
line should show your development of the topic; 
it should state the principle and the limitations of 
these principles. (12) 

''Whatever we want a child to do or whatever might 
be otherwise our special training to that effect, 
there are certain moral conditions as necessary 
to our success as the technical ones." Seguin. 
Examine critically this statement as a criterion 
for judging the work of a teacher. State two 
of these moral conditions. (20) 

State in detail the information regarding any given 
child in an ungraded class, which the teacher 
should have, in order that the proper educational 
treatment may be preserved. (14) 



Index 



INDEX 



Abstraction, children lacking in power 
of, II. 

Abstractions, incapable of dealing 
with, 6i. 

Assistants, special, to follow up after- 
history of defective children, 73. 

Associate inspectors, 72. 

Automobile needed, 31. 

Backward, merely, xvi. 

Bathroom, 22. 

Bed, 22. 

Benches, piled together, 14. 

Binet-Simon Measuring Scale of In- 
telligence, xviii, 6, 43, 66, 72, 102; 
must be used by persons who have 
been trained, 6. 

Blackboards, 21. 

Board of Education, 15. 

Bonus, increase in, 73. 

Book work largely wasted, 9; practi- 
cally useless, 61. 

Border-line case, 6; a source of an- 
noyance, 58, 

Brain, association fibers of, 11. 

Bullying and teasing, escaped, 66. 

"C" Classes, 47; number of children 

in, 48. 
Cases for storing work and materials, 

21. 
Chairs for ungraded classes, 21. 
Charities department, 57, 58. 
Child labor law should be modified, 

Children should be tested for mental 
deficiency, 5; number of, in_ one 
class, 20; have never been examined, 
38; 2% of, defective, 43; not in the 
public schools, 54; which, should 
be sent to special schools, 66. 



Citizenship, training for, 56. 

Classes vs. schools for defective chil- 
dren, 38; examined, 44. 

Classification, xv; difficulty of, 3; 
reasons for, 3. 

Classroom routine unprofitable, 75. 

Cleveland, Ohio, 72. 

Coaching classes, 52. 

Colonies, 55. 

Colonization, argument against, si- 
lenced, 60. 

Commission, special, on the defective, 

Compensation, not sufficient, 39. 

Compulsory education law, 60. 

Cost of care, 60; a separate system and 

special schools, 63. 
Courts, the, 57, 58. 
"Crazy Class," 66. 
Cretins, 4. 
Crippled Children, 48. 

"D" Classes, examined, 45; number 
in, 46. 

Defective child cannot understand 
symbols, 12; in other than public 
schools, 54; a separate school sys- 
tem for, 60; as wage-earners, 67; 
often unrecognized, 74. 

Defectives, history of care of,_ xix; 
classes for, picked out by simple 
observation, 5; psychology of, 11; 
and manual work, 12. See also 
Ungraded Classes. 

Defects, not shown until nine or ten 
years old, 66. 

Department of Education, 13. 

Desks, cannot be taken out, 14; 
crowded, 14. 

Diagnosis, mistaken, 4. 

Domestic science, 22. 



95 



96 



Index 



"E" Classes, 3; not well classified, 
xvi; tests made in, 45; contain a 
high percentage of mental defec- 
tives, 52. 

Educational department, must en- 
large its scope, 57; system, not 
necessarily prepared, 57. 

Equipment lacking, 13; slow in com- 
ing, 13; for ungraded classes, what 
it should consist of, 19. 

Examination for mental deficiency, 
xviii. 

Examinations required for teachers 
are unsatisfactory, 38; sample 
questions, Appendix. 

Examiner, medical, and feeble-mind- 
edness, 6. 

Examiners, additional, should be ap- 
pointed, 72. 

Feeble-minded children shut out of 
the schools, 48; incapable of avoid- 
ing ordinary dangers, 52; cannot be 
sweated, 67; exempt from child 
labor law, 67. 

Feeble-mindedness, incurable, xviii; 
importance of determining, 51. 

Fool class, XX. 

Grades, children sent back to, 4; 

regular,^ tested, 46. 
Grading would be possible, 61. 
Grammar school, 67. 
Gynmastic apparatus, 22. 

High school, five cases in, examined, 

46. 
Hilfsschulen of Germany, 9. 
Hydrocephalic, 4. 

Inspector of ungraded classes ap- 
pointed, i; duties of, i. 

Institution, distance of, from the 
child's home, 55. 

Institutional cases, 37. 

Institutions for defectives, city, 63. 

Intelligence, levels of, 5; defect of, 11; 
confused with memory, 11. 

Judgment, defect of, 11. 
Juvenile Court, 12, 58. 



Labor unions, 68. 

Language, difficulty of learning often 
means mentally defective, 47. 

Laundry, 22. 

Law, evading child labor, 53. 

Letch worth Village, 62, 73. 

Letter of principal in regard to equip- 
ment, 13. 

London Special Classes, 10. 

Manual training, 9, 12, 60, 74. 

Manual work seldom satisfactory, 14; 
present, does not have high educa- 
tional value, 63. 

Material, poor and inadequate, 13. 

Mats, unraveled, 13. 

Memory of defectives, 3, 11. 

Menace to society, 75. 

Mental capacity, range of, in un- 
graded classes, 15. 

Mental defect, often obscured by a 
physical condition, 48; is hereditary. 

Mental defectives, xv; can never earn 
a living, 5 1 ; should be segregated, 59. 

Mentally defective children, defined, 
xvi; not necessarily defective in 
memory, 11. 

Mentally deficient'children, the num- 
ber of, in New York City schools, 
44; the exact number of, should be 
obtained, 53. 

Microcephalic idiots, 4. 

Mongolian type, 4. 

Moore, Dr. Anna, 55. 

Morbid heredity, 51. 

Morons, xvii, 4. 

Napoleon's census, xix. 

New York City, number of defectives 

in, 44. 
Normal grade, easy to get back to, 61. 

Occupation, need of, 56. 
"Over-age" pupils, 5. 

Parents must be won, 56; to be paid 

for the work of child, 56. 
Parrot work, 9. 
Part time, 19. 



Index 



97 



Physician, the, and feeble-minded- 

ness, 6. 
Piece worlc, 68. 
Principal of the school, no oflBcial 

responsibility, 31; testimony of, 

ignored, 39. 
Principals, interested, 31; suggestions 

from, 37. 
Psychology of the defective child, 

need of knowing the, 27. 
Public school must deal with the 

problem, 57. 

Randall's Island, 55. 
Reading and writing, 9. 
Reading involves abstraction, 12. 
Reading, writing and counting, time 

is wasted in teaching, 75. 
Recommendations, 71. 
Records, should be kept, 10; few, 12. 
Repeaters, 67. 
Rochester, New York, 72. 
Room, standard for ungraded class, 

20. 
Rugs, unraveled, 13. 

Salary scale, a, 62. 

School records would be available for 

court cases, 58; plant, must be 

elaborated, 59; special, the wisest 

solution, 64; population, 2% men- 
tally defective, 75. 
Schoolroom for ungraded classes, 19. 
Schools vs. classes, 38; separate, 61; 

home, 63 
Segregation, 53; is wisest, 54; colonies 

for, 55- 
Special class pupil, xv. 
Special classes, first started, xix; 

methods of selecting children for, 4; 

perhaps accomplish Uttle, 60. See 

also Ungraded classes. 
Special difi&culties to overcome, 64; 

schools, 72. 
State University, 64; Normal Schools, 

64. 
Sterilization, 53, 59; more knowledge 

of, needed, 54. 
Stigmata of degeneration, 6. 
Suggestions by principals and 

teachers, 37. 



Superintendent of schools for mental 
defectives, a, 61; and classes for 
defectives, 71; and classes for de- 
fectives, powers of, 72. 

Supernormal child, xv. 

Supervision, inadequacy of, 31; bet- 
ter plan needed, 38. 

Supervisor of ungraded classes, quali- 
ties and duties of a, 32. 

Supplies, better method of distribut- 
ing needed, 38; method of adminis- 
tering should be revised, 73. 

Tables for ungraded classes, 21. 

Teachers, unqualified to decide men- 
tality of the child, 2; the supply of 
trained, 25; character of, in New 
York, 26; of defectives, qualifica- 
tions of, 26; of ungraded classes, 
best way to secure, 27; of special 
classes, problems of, :is ; suggestions 
from, 37; principals could select, 
39; lack of trained, 75. 

Tools, 21; lacking, 14. 

Training school for teachers, 64; 
classes for teachers of defectives, 

73- 
Transportation of pupils, 65. 
Transporting defective children, the 

difficulty of, 65. 
Tribunal which would decide all 

doubtful cases, 57. 

Ungraded class pupil, xv. 

Ungraded class, in New York, i;'how 
children are chosen for, in New 
York, 2; children, after-history of, 
10; a standard room for, 20; super- 
vision of, 31; enlargement and ex- 
tension of the work of, 71. See 
also Special Classes. 

Wanamaker, remnants begged of 

John, 13. 
Waverley, Massachusetts, children of 

low grade trained, 63. 
Work benches for ungraded classes, 

21. 
"Working paper classes," 52. 

rking papers, children should be 

given, 37; the law modified, 67. 






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